(urth) Juturna (and nenuphars)

[David Duffy]

On Sun, 9 Apr 2006, Jeff Wilson wrote:
> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
> > On 4/9/06, Tristan Davenport <tristan_davenport at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>(Question: Why are the plants
> >>on Urth pale, while those on the moon apparently quite green?)
> >
> > Purely speculation but -- Lune has a less dense atmosphere, so
> > the surface receives more insolation.
>
> Perhaps, but there's no guarantee that there are any plants still on
> Lune at the time of the narrative. Conflation and  multiplication of
> identities over ages is a very strong theme here as in other Wolfe.
>
> The green color could be something else entirely, [SNIP]
>
> The real answer is of course that the author really likes to write about
> blue planets with bright green companions, as he does in 5HC and SS.
>

It seems perfectly possible to me that the present plant life can strike
one as pale when seen up close, but their underlying green visible en
masse from a distance.  But only science fiction readers would worry
about rationalizing such a cool effect ;)  Anyway, there are plenty of
descriptions of "green" greenery in BOTNS, plus heat and humidity in the
"true jungle at the waist of the world", so insolation hasn't
dropped that much.

David Duffy