Dream #23
— January 3, 2026 at 5:30 am
Limerick
A Thai keeper named Tanachai played
While Jane Austen's characters stayed
In a Hungarian town
Where a cannon was found
And cigarettes lit up the shade
While Jane Austen's characters stayed
In a Hungarian town
Where a cannon was found
And cigarettes lit up the shade
Haiku
Stone bridge over Wear—
bronzewing shifts vulnerable
on Marajó's bank
bronzewing shifts vulnerable
on Marajó's bank
What If
What if the plant hormone 4-chloroindole-3-acetic acid could be extracted from the tributaries of Brazil's Paracauari River and used to accelerate the growth of tobacco plants for brands like Craven A, creating a biochemical link between Amazonian waterways and British cigarette production that mirrors the colonial extraction patterns explored in Austen adaptations?
Feasibility Assessment
Based on my research, I can now evaluate this speculative hypothesis about extracting 4-chloroindole-3-acetic acid from the Paracauari River tributaries to accelerate tobacco growth for Craven A cigarettes.
## Scientific Assessment
**Testability vs. Speculation:** This hypothesis is primarily speculative with significant scientific obstacles. 4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid (4-Cl-IAA) is found in the seeds of a variety of plants, particularly legumes such as peas and broad beans, and is thought to be restricted to members of the leguminous tribe Fabeae, specifically "the genera Vicia, Pisum, Lathyrus, Lens, and Vavilovia". The Paracauari River is a river on the island of Marajó in the state of Pará, Brazil that discharges into the Marajó Bay at the mouth of the Tocantins River. There is no established link between this specific Amazonian river system and the specialized legume species that produce 4-Cl-IAA.
**Intersecting Research Areas:** Several relevant fields do intersect with this concept. Auxin is a key plant hormone that promotes root growth and enhances the ability of plants to absorb and accumulate mineral nutrients, with tobacco used as a model plant in auxin research. 4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid (4-Cl-IAA) is a potent auxin in various auxin bioassays, and studies on tobacco have shown that adding appropriate concentrations of exogenous auxin improved root growth, enhanced potassium uptake capacity and affinity, and increased overall plant potassium concentration. However, Craven A cigarettes were originally founded by the Carreras Tobacco Company in 1921 and named after the third Earl of Craven, using a tobacco blend formulated in the 1860s - long before synthetic auxins were understood or available.
**Key Obstacles:** The hypothesis faces multiple critical barriers: (1) 4-Cl-IAA is found in certain higher plants and is synthesized via the novel intermediate 4-chloroindole-3-pyruvic acid from 4-chlorotryptophan by specific aminotransferases - not extracted from river water; (2) There's no evidence that Amazonian waterways contain meaningful concentrations of this specialized plant hormone; and (3) The colonial-era connection to British tobacco production predates both the discovery of auxins and modern understanding of plant growth regulators by decades.
**PLAUSIBILITY: Speculative**
## Scientific Assessment
**Testability vs. Speculation:** This hypothesis is primarily speculative with significant scientific obstacles. 4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid (4-Cl-IAA) is found in the seeds of a variety of plants, particularly legumes such as peas and broad beans, and is thought to be restricted to members of the leguminous tribe Fabeae, specifically "the genera Vicia, Pisum, Lathyrus, Lens, and Vavilovia". The Paracauari River is a river on the island of Marajó in the state of Pará, Brazil that discharges into the Marajó Bay at the mouth of the Tocantins River. There is no established link between this specific Amazonian river system and the specialized legume species that produce 4-Cl-IAA.
**Intersecting Research Areas:** Several relevant fields do intersect with this concept. Auxin is a key plant hormone that promotes root growth and enhances the ability of plants to absorb and accumulate mineral nutrients, with tobacco used as a model plant in auxin research. 4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid (4-Cl-IAA) is a potent auxin in various auxin bioassays, and studies on tobacco have shown that adding appropriate concentrations of exogenous auxin improved root growth, enhanced potassium uptake capacity and affinity, and increased overall plant potassium concentration. However, Craven A cigarettes were originally founded by the Carreras Tobacco Company in 1921 and named after the third Earl of Craven, using a tobacco blend formulated in the 1860s - long before synthetic auxins were understood or available.
**Key Obstacles:** The hypothesis faces multiple critical barriers: (1) 4-Cl-IAA is found in certain higher plants and is synthesized via the novel intermediate 4-chloroindole-3-pyruvic acid from 4-chlorotryptophan by specific aminotransferases - not extracted from river water; (2) There's no evidence that Amazonian waterways contain meaningful concentrations of this specialized plant hormone; and (3) The colonial-era connection to British tobacco production predates both the discovery of auxins and modern understanding of plant growth regulators by decades.
**PLAUSIBILITY: Speculative**
Sources:
4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid - Wikipedia
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4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid and plant growth | Plant Growth Regulation
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Biosynthesis of the halogenated auxin, 4-chloroindole-3-acetic acid - PubMed
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4-Chloroindole-3-acetic Acid | CAS 2519-61-1 | SCBT - Santa Cruz Biotechnology
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The natural chlorinated plant hormone of pea, 4-chloroindole-3-acetic acid, an endogenous herbicide? | SpringerLink
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Biosynthesis of the Halogenated Auxin, 4-Chloroindole-3-Acetic Acid | Plant Physiology | Oxford Academic
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4-Chloroindole | GoldBio
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Biosynthesis of the Halogenated Auxin, 4-Chloroindole-3-Acetic Acid - PMC
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4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid (4-Cl-IAA) | Chlorinated Analogue of Indole-3-acetic Acid (IAA) | MedChemExpress
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4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid | 2519-61-1
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List of rivers of Amazonas (Brazilian state) - Wikipedia
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Amazon River - Wikipedia
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Amazon River | Facts, History, Location, Length, Animals, & Map | Britannica
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Amazon River - Source, Tributaries, Basin | Britannica
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River and Tributaries - Ascent Of The Amazon
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The Amazon River | WWF
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Amazon basin - Wikipedia
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WATERS Amazon Basin | AMAZON WATERS
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The Amazon River - Aguas Amazonicas
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Brazil - Rivers, Amazon, Basin | Britannica
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Paracauari River - Wikipedia
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Saco River (Paracauari) - Wikipedia
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About: Paracauari River
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Geographical location of the Paracauari River, Salvaterra
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Paracauari river | Soure, Marajó Island, Pará, Brazil | Luciana Christante | Flickr
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Amazon River Travel Guide - Part 2 - taste2travel - An Amazon River Guide
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In Vitro Flower Bud Formation in Tobacco: Interaction of Hormones - PMC
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Transcriptomic and physiological insights into auxin-mediated root growth and potassium uptake in tobacco under low-potassium stress | BMC Plant Biology
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In Vitro Flower Bud Formation in Tobacco: Interaction of Hormones - PMC
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Frontiers | Overdominant expression of genes plays a key role in root growth of tobacco hybrids
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How is auxin linked with cellular energy pathways to promote growth? - PubMed
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Transcriptomic and physiological insights into auxin-mediated root growth and potassium uptake in tobacco under low-potassium stress - PMC
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In Vitro Flower Bud Formation in Tobacco: Interaction of Hormones 1 | Plant Physiology | Oxford Academic
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Effects of topping and non-topping on growth-regulating hormones of flue-cured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.)—a proteomic analysis - PMC
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Frontiers | Effects of topping and non-topping on growth-regulating hormones of flue-cured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.)—a proteomic analysis
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Overexpression of Auxin-Binding Protein Enhances the Sensitivity of Guard Cells to Auxin - PMC
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Craven A - Wikipedia
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The story of Craven "A" Virginia Cigarettes
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Craven A Cigarettes - Graces Guide
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Craven A
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Craven A Cigarettes - Native Smokes - Mohawk Smoke cigarette shop - Buy Cigarettes and tobacco
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Containers, tin, Cigarettes 'Craven A', mid 20thC
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Craven A Cigarettes NAAFI, WWII British Army - WWII Soldier
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Carreras Tobacco Company - Wikipedia
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From the Archive: The Tobacco Industry and Advertising: Women Smoking in Interwar Britain | British Online Archives (BOA)
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Craven A cigarettes - Edinburgh Collected