• A fun fact inspired by a recent Metaflora answer

• Answers to last week's games

• A Metazooa/Metaflora update

Open Sesame is a great password

Ever found yourself locked out of an old account, trying to remember an obscure password, and wishing that you could just open sesame your way in? Sesame was Plant #100 in Metaflora this week, and it got me wondering where the phrase “open sesame” comes from.

The magic words are famously associated the Arabic folktale “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” presented in One Thousand and One Nights (and of course, the direct-to-video Disney sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves). In the original story, "open sesame" is a magical phrase used by Ali Baba to open the door of a robbers' den concealed in a mountain.

But why sesame? Sesame was certainly around in the Islamic Golden Age when the 1,001 stories were compiled. Before being widely known as the second-best seasoning for bagels, it was historically used to make oils and perfumes. Sesame has also been used to make tahini and halva since ancient times. These recipes have their origins in the Middle East because sesame plants are drought-tolerant and require a warm climate.

It’s possible that the phrase was inspired by the way sesame pods dramatically burst open and scatter their seeds. This is part of a process called dehiscence, the natural splitting open of a plant organ to release its contents.

All that said, nobody knows for sure why “Open Sesame” was chosen to be the now world-famous password, but modern cybersecurity experts would say that’s for the best; the best passwords are those that remain a mystery!

Answers to last week's games

Monday, January 8 to Sunday, January 14.

Forgeous

Veronese, Paolo. Boy with a Greyhound. 1570, oil paint on canvas, 173.7 x 101.9 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437890.

Play Forgeous for Jan 15.