Sego Palm
by James Temple
Title
Sego Palm
Artist
James Temple
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Two hundred million years ago, cycads were everywhere. Cycad forests reached from Greenland to Antarctica (though the continents were not where they are now). Pterodactyls flew through them. Big dinosaurs munched on them during the Jurassic period. They were small, stumpy palm-looking trees, known today as Sago Palms. They are now the most commercially grown palm in the world.
I have a number of these beautiful trees in my yard here on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i. When a cycad is ready to reproduce, it grows a large colorful cone about a foot wide, rich with pollen or seed. It signals its readiness by radiating heat or sending out attractive odors to pollinators, who travel back and forth. Once fertilized, the seed-rich cone is ripped apart by hungry seed carriers (who've included over the years, not just birds and insects, but dinosaurs, pterosaurs, bats; these trees have been eaten by just about everybody). The plant then sends up a fountain of new fronds out of its center with curled tips. The fronds continue to open as the older ones below them give way to this new birth.
Uploaded
March 29th, 2018
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Viewed 393 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/13/2024 at 2:09 PM
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Comments (11)
Sharon McConnell
So much to love about this image - light, patterns, lines, composition, and color! Beautiful work, James. L/F
Debra Lynch
Happy Birthday James! I would sing for you but your ears would hurt for weeks afterwards. :-)) I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Birthday... I was visiting Grace's work and saw it was a blessed day. :-)) I love what you did here. How interesting about this plant. I had never heard of a cycad before and how thrilling it is to see such a wonderful plant. Lovely capture.... L/F/P
James Temple replied:
Aloha Debra, thanks for the happy birthday greeting, and also your interest in this image.
FRANCE ART
Aloha James! This is a magnificent photo.. Also magnificent, is your enlightening description..! That says something about us artists..doesn't it? That we look carefully.. That we, like children..stop to wonder...& We Love.. to explore & learn.. Wow.. Aren't we grateful..? that this beautiful planet, offers so very much! I hope you will post more pics of the life cycle you described.. Like the cone..! Amazing.. L & F..Dona Delfino Dugay
Heidi Fickinger
This is fabulous, James! I will always look at Sego Palms differently from now on. l/f
Denise Clark
I am familiar with cycads but have never noticed the curly bits happening..I will have to keep an eye out...lovely capture James l/f
James Temple replied:
Aloha Denise, thanks for your comment. The curly tips straighten out as the new fronds mature.