Do you ever wonder if plants have feelings? If they did (and they don’t, at least as far as we know), one plant in particular would probably feel sort of depressed.
Why?
It’s a newly discovered plam tree on the island of Madagascar that lives for about 100 years without doing anything special, then suddenly flowers . . . and then dies.
That’s right. For an entire century it hangs out, looking just like any other palm tree. And then, suddenly, in a burst of self expression, a giant, asparagus-like shoot pops out of its top, spreads, and gives birth to hundreds of white flowers. Birds and insect gather around, tasting the flowers’ nectar. Times are good.
And then, a few months later, the tree withers and dies.
This seems like a very strange evolutionary path. And the Kew Gardens researchers who discovered the tree don’t explain how it’s unusual life cycle came to be.
The trees have been around for some 80 million years as a species, so they evidently manage to reproduce despite such infrequent flowering. But there are only around 100 or so such trees in Madagascar, so they’re certainly not prolific in the reproduction department.
In any case, it’s not every day that biologists discover a new species of tree. And this one is pretty spectacular, and spectacularly weird.
Source: Discovery News
Source: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/01/17/flowering-palm-tree.html
I’m sort of curious how they know this tree only flowers once every 100 years if it’s only just been discovered? It would be interesting to know how they determined this, it doesn’t really say in the linked article.
Hey, Jeremy, agave plants - which are used to produce tequila - do this same thing. And they’re very common here in Texas. I’ve got several of them growing in my yard. They’re sometimes called “century plants” because they bloom so seldom, but their blooming cycle is really more like 20-50 years … not 100 years. When they bloom, they send up a single huge stalk. Very dramatic and beautiful! It lasts a long time … months. Then it starts to die and the whole plant starts to die. But lots of little plants grow up where the single old plant was.
Here’s a link: http://www.livingdesert.org/plants/desert_agave.asp
Deborah
What is the casual facture which are needed to generated the blooms? Are they climate, nutrient levels in the soil or just the age of the plant. In most plants it is a combination eg: seeds staying dormant for years before conditions are right.
What is the factures which are needed to generated the blooms? Are they climate, nutrient levels in the soil or just the age of the plant. In most plants it is a combination eg: seeds staying dormant for years before conditions are right.