Mountain Ash

Mountain ash (a eucalyptus, not related to true ash) is the tallest flowering plant on Earth, reaching over 330 feet. While coast redwoods and Douglas firs are conifers with relatively simple water-conducting tracheids, mountain ash achieves comparable height with the more complex vessel elements of flowering plants. It's solving the same hydraulic engineering problem with different biological machinery.

The difference matters for resilience. Vessels are more efficient than tracheids for water transport but more vulnerable to cavitation and embolism. Mountain ash pushes vessel-based hydraulics to their limits, achieving near-conifer heights despite the inherent fragility of its transport system. The trees live fast and die young by redwood standards - 400 years is exceptional.

Mountain ash is obligately serotinous - it requires fire to reproduce. Seeds are held in woody capsules until fire kills the parent tree and triggers release. Unlike coast redwoods that resist fire and resprout, mountain ash depends on fire for regeneration. Same height strategy, opposite fire strategy. The tallest flowering plant achieves its scale specifically because catastrophic disturbance creates the open conditions it needs.

The business insight is that maximum performance often requires accepting fragility. Mountain ash pushes vessel transport to limits that create vulnerability. Companies pursuing maximum growth or efficiency often accept risks that more conservative competitors avoid. The question is whether the performance gain justifies the fragility cost.