Most everyone is familiar with the story where Moses comes across a burning bush which, while clearly alit, doesn’t seem to be consumed by the flame.
It’s supernatural.
Except, it’s real — well, part of it.
There’s a bush called Dictamnus albus, a flowering plant native to parts of Europe and Asia (but not North Africa or the Middle East, and it doesn’t come with the voice of a higher being).
For most of the year it acts as a normal plant, but over the summer months, it develops a sticky, flammable oily substance which sometimes spontaneously sparks in the heat.
The excretion, when lit, burns rapidly — so rapidly, in fact, that the plant itself is typically unscathed.
The oil’s smell is citrus-like, but the plant’s leaves are bitter and inedible. (Why one would want to eat a flammable plant is anyone’s guess — well, anyone other than Homer Simpson.)
It has some archaic medical uses but today is mostly cultivated for its novelty factor — in case you wanted to grow one yourself.
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