Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy4ut
Michael,
I think you would be fine if you could find a nice little microclimate for it and be ready to protect it for the first couple of years until it gets established. They are hardier than what most folks realize. Some say 0-5F, but I wouldn't want to test it at that temp... Hey, give it a go, you will never know unless you try.... I always kill at least 3 of anything before I finally concede!!!!
|
I just might give it a try and I like your attitiude about perserving until it grows.
This might be old news to you palm growers/experts but I pass it along anyway.
I was reading about a new and very strange palm tree that was recently discovered.
from cnn- follow link for picture at cnn
Self-destructing palm tree discovered in Madagascar
* Story Highlights
* Palm tree discovered on Madagascar flowers once every 100 years and then dies
* When flowering, a shoot become covered in white flowers that ooze with nectar
* The effort of flowering and fruiting depletes the tree making it die within months
* It is the largest palm species in the country but there appear to be only about 100
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) -- A self-destructing palm tree that flowers once every 100 years and then dies has been discovered on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, botanists said Thursday.
The name of the giant palm and its remarkable life cycle will be detailed in a study by Kew Gardens scientists in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society published Thursday.
"It's spectacular. It does not flower for maybe 100 years and when it's like this it can be mistaken for other types of palm," said Mijoro Rakotoarinivo, who works for the London botanical gardens in Madagascar.
"But then a large shoot, a bit like an asparagus, grows out of the top of the tree and starts to spread. You get something that looks a bit like a Christmas tree growing out of the top of the palm," he said.
The branches of this shoot then become covered in hundreds of tiny white flowers that ooze with nectar, attracting insects and birds.
But the effort of flowering and fruiting depletes the tree so much that within a few months it collapses and dies, said botanist Dr. John Dransfield, author of the study.
Dransfield noted that "even for Madagascar this is a stupendous palm and an astonishing discovery."
The world's fourth largest island, Madagascar is renowned for its unusual flora and fauna, including 12,000 species of plant found nowhere else in the world. Indeed 90 percent of its plant species are endemic.
The palm tree, which grows to 66 feet in height and has about 16-foot leaves, is only found in an extremely remote region in the northwest of the country, some four days by road from the capital. Local villagers have known about it for years although none had seen it in flower until last year.
The bizarre flowering ritual was first spotted by Frenchman Xavier Metz, who runs a cashew plantation nearby. After seeing it he notified Kew Gardens.
Puzzling Dransfield is how botanists had missed such a "whopping palm" until now. According to him it is the largest palm species in the country but there appear to be only about 100 in existence.
He also questions how the palm got to Madagascar. The tree has similarities to Chuniophoeniceae palms, however these are only found in Asia, more than 3,700 miles away.
Dransfield suggests the plant has been quietly living and dramatically dying in Madagascar since the island split with mainland India 80 million years ago.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science....ap/index.html