|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
young Sabal palmetto
| Additional information | : | During 2005 when I was in Florida, I happened early one morning upon a phenomenon apparently peculiar to the genus Roystonea. A tree had just begun to bloom and had dropped copious amounts of fine white material that formed a layer on the plants and soil beneath it. It fell like fine snow, but when I came back an hour later to see if more had accumulated, it had almost mysteriously vanished, apparently having been blown away by the slight breeze that had arisen by then. The experience was eerily reminiscent of the accounts of manna in the Bible that I had learned as a boy. Originally I was told the material was pollen, but Dr. Scott Zona, a well known palm biologist at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, assures me that this is not the case, though no one seems to be sure of its function.
Another of the interesting aspects of Roystonea biology is that the trees drop their foliage during hurricanes, thus averting being blown over. |
| Reference | : | 1. Arnold, L. E. . 1954. Some honey plants of Florida. University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations Bulletin 548. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
2. Crane, E., P. Walker and R. Day. 1984. Directory of Important World Honey Sources. International Bee Research Association. London. 3. Dennis, C. 1983. Nectar and Pollen Producing Plants of Alabama--A Guide for Beekeepers. ANR Circular 351. Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, Auburn University. Auburn, AL. 4. Henderson, A, G. Galeano and R. Bernal. 1995. Field guide to the Palms of the Americas. Prinston University Press. Princeton, NJ. 5. Jones, D. L. 1995. Palms Throughout the World. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C. 6. Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium Staff. 1976. Hortus Third. A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. New York. 7. Lovell, H. B. 1965. Lets Talk About Honey Plants. Gleanings in Bee Culture. 93:483-484. 8. Lovell, J. 1926. Honey Plants of North America. A. I. Root Co. Medina, OH. 9. Morton, J. A. 1964. Honeybee plants of South Florida. Proceedings, Florida State Horicultural Society 77:415-436. 10. Pellett, F. C. 1978. American Honey Plants. Dadant and Sons, Hamilton, IL. 11. Root, A. I. and E. R. Root. 1920. The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture. The A. I. Root Co. Medina, Ohio. 12. Sanford, M. T. 1988. Florida Bee Botany Florida Cooperative Extension Service/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Circular 686. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 13. Smith, L. K. 1909. Cabbage palmetto yields honey that sours quickly; saw palmetto honey excellent. Gleanings in Bee Culture 37:39. 14. USDA, NRCS. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA 15. White, J. W., M. L. Riethof, M. H. Subers and I. Kushnir. 1962. Composition of American Honeys. U. S. D. A. Technical Bulletin No. 1261. U. S. Government Printing Office. Washington, D. C. |
|
||||||
|
|
RSS |