Palm Trees in the Pantheon

7 days until Rome.

So, how did palm trees get into the Pantheon? Well, okay they aren't there right now, but about 400 years ago the Pantheon was home to some shrubs, grass and maybe even a palm tree. What happened was, after the Roman Empire fell, nobody really cared much about Rome's great buildings unless there was anything to loot from them. Pretty soon the Pantheon's marble floor had cracked (or, perhaps dirt came in because of the markets that had grown around the pantheon's footsteps) and there was some soil, right below the pantheon's oculus. This patch of light was nicely watered by the Roman rains, and one of the marketpeople must have had some coconuts or something, because pretty soon the dirt and rains had nurtured a nice little palm tree into existence.

Unfortunately, this story ends sadly for the palm tree: it was brutally torn down after Emperor Constantine allowed this pope (Pope Boniface) to consecrate the Pantheon as a church. The palm was swept up in a cursory cleaning effort to make the now catholic church approachable.