In Sunday School curricula, their illustrated Bibles and even famous illustrations and paintings over the centuries, literal interpretations have formed our image of the ecology of the Garden of Eden. But even literalist are not likely to explore the theological implications of the specific features of the Garden of the Eden and are even less likely to ask what the regions outside of the Garden was like and why.
The thorns on acacias got me to thinking about how traditionally all thorns and thistles have been viewed as results of the curse on Adam for his sin. In my prior article I looked at the dilemma that mimicry in organisms can be for young earth creationists. I want to share a brief natural history of acacias with you and then pose the question, what did acacia trees look like in the prelapsarian world (ie. before the fall of Adam?