Permaculture Database

[Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>]

> And do we want to
> define a plant's preference as well, or should that be gathered by
> looking at its tolerances?
I have a hard time defining preference from a mechanistic perspective, 
IOW identifying the physiological process that makes the plant happy or 
unhappy.  I tend to see a site as having a series of challanges that 
species are either able or not able to overcome (melancholic nature? 
glass half empty?).  There are not many plants that wouldn't enjoy 
growing in a nice fertile moist well drained garden bed... if they could 
find one.  But there it comes down to competition, and some plants are 
so conservative by habit (they were born survivors), that they don't 
have competative tendancies (which are reckless under conditions of 
stress or disturbance).

Give me an example of a 'preference' related to setting that isn't 
driven by a pysiological intolerance?