It was “snowing” in the lowlands this morning…..

Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 01:09:06 PM

Early this morning, I was collecting seeds of our pineland crotons to grow on for sales and special projects. As I was walking from our pineland back to my office, I noticed that the sign for Mark di Suvero’s ‘She’ had “snow” on it. I also saw that the grass in the area had “snow” as well. I looked up, up, up, into the crown of the nearest royal palm and saw that it was flowering. The huge inflorescence of the palm was a creamy white hue, buzzing with bees which were knocking off pollen in the process of moving from one flower to another. The “snow” was royal palm pollen! No snow in August in Miami, just palm pollen!

I took these photos about 7:30 this morning, during the time when the first touch of the sun casts a golden glow. The royal palm inflorescence is actually much whiter than it appears in the photo.


royal palm inflorescence full of pollen and bees!


The pollen drifting upon the sign looked like snow

5 comments - Add a comment

Just for curiousity, what are the best 5-10 "tropical" palms (perferably non-overly used palms) that Fairchild has??
I've heard alot about a palm called "Satakentia Liukiuensis".....would that be one of the top 10?? I'm so tired of the palms that way too many people in south florida are using (foxtail, royal, and coconuts are nice tho)......but would like to know which of the non-overly used palms should be considered??

posted by Joyce Mitchell, Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 6:14 AM

Saw your endangered palm list: Hurricane Palm (Dictyosperma), Attalea crassispatha (looks alot like a coconut huh?), and the Pseudophoenix species (especially like Vinifera alot). Would all (3) be worthy of top 10 palms (among the non-overly used)?
((Overused Palms include: Queen, Royal, Foxtail, Coconut, Areca, Xmas, Roebelinii, Sabal, Washingtonia, Silv. Bismarkia, and Dac/Sylvester/canary Date palms---Am I missing any?))

posted by Joyce Mitchell, Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 6:28 AM

Most of the "snow" is actually not pollen, but fluffy white trichomes (hairs) that break off as the flower cluster unfurls.

posted by Scott Z, Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 10:27 AM

why did u stop doing this blog Mary??

posted by joyce Mitchell, Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 2:46 AM

why did u stop ure blog mary??

posted by joyce Mitchell, Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 1:16 AM