A special post for an ex student of Kai Chung school, Dora Leong. She posted on her Facebook page some green fruits which look like grapes, but were from a palm. I told her I had palm nuts too, but I couldn't find the photos. So I went out specially to UNITEC today and found these two trees, with flowers and fruits.
There is only one native palm tree in New Zealand. The Nikau which doesn't produce fruits. Nikau in Maori means no nuts. It does have bright red fruits for the birds like wood pigeon/kereru and kaka.
Sorry can't find the names of these two.
*** I made some friends high up in the plant world. I wrote to Tikorangi The Jury Garden:
Your cover palm photo interested me. I just took some photos at Unitec, but I can't find their names. I blog for fun, but I like to educate my international readers. Do you know?
She replied:This is the Queen Palm - Syragus romanzoffiana.
Tikorangi The Jury Garden And just checked your blog. The first photos are of Dracaena draco (so not palms) and the second looks like Syragus romanzoffiana to us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracaena_draco
Dracaena draco, the Canary Islands Dragon Tree or Drago is a subtropical Dragon Treenative to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira, and locally in western Morocco, and introduced to the Azores.It is not a real tree. When young it has a single stem. At about 10–15 years of age the stems stops growing and produces a flower spike with white, lily-like perfumed flowers, followed by coral berries. Soon a crown of terminal buds appear and the plant starts branching. Each branch grows for about 10–15 years and re-branches, so a mature plant has an umbrella-like habit. It grows slowly, requiring about ten years to reach 1.2 metres (4 ft) in height but can grow much faster.
When the bark or leaves are cut they secrete a reddish resin, one of the sources of the substance known as Dragon's blood, used to stain wood, such as of Stradivarius violins. It also has a number of traditional medicinal uses
Hi Heidi,
You are incredible. First thing after Queen's birthday, you replied my "not important email."
Thanks,
Ann
--- On Tue, 5/6/12, Heidi Hannah-Jones
--- On Tue, 5/6/12, Heidi Hannah-Jones
From: Heidi Hannah-Jones
Subject: RE: fruiting palm trees.
To: "ann chin"
Received: Tuesday, 5 June, 2012, 3:25 AM
Hi Ann,The first tree is called Dracaena draco or Dragon Tree and the second tree is a Syagrus romanzoffianum or Queen Palm.Regards, Heidi Hannah-JonesSales and Administration Manager
The Specimen Tree Company Ltd. P.O. Box 22-606, Otahuhu, Auckland 1640, New Zealand Ph: +64-9-276-1041 Fax: +64-9-276-1042 www.specimentree.co.nzFrom: ann chin [mailto:annkschin@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, 4 June 2012 4:44 p.m.
To: Heidi Hannah-Jones
Subject: fruiting palm trees.
http://blueberrycraftandhobbytime.blogspot.com/p/join-my-photo-challenge-flowers-on.html
http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.co.nz/
4 comments:
They are very different from each other and quite strange to me, we have nothing like this here.
Ann...These palm trees are different form the ones I grew up with in south florida. There he had coconuts and that was it. This was interesting to learn there are others that produce things like nuts. Hope you are well. genie
Ann...These palm trees are different form the ones I grew up with in south florida. There he had coconuts and that was it. This was interesting to learn there are others that produce things like nuts. Hope you are well. genie
Good detective story, Ann! :-)
Post a Comment