Thursday, January 17, 2008

Palms

I love this story, especially as it's not just a new species but a new genus, and the tree's so big you can see it in satellite photos - and yet nobody had spotted it. Talking of palms - there's always this. Beautiful, and true.

7 comments:

  1. As I read the post and then the first link I started thinking of Stevens's line, "The palm at the end of the mind."
    I click on the second link and - lo and behold!
    Thanks, Nige.

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  2. It claimed on Today, that this palm only flowers once and when it does it dies... a tragic and moving story..

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  3. Nige, the poem was a perfect complement to the news story ..... thanks for sharing both.

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  4. I agree, Nige. Though I'm amazed that palm has survived at all: Flowering kills it??? My horticulturalist neighbor has a plant called a "corpse flower." Once a year it blooms and it's disgusting -- reeks. It, too, is a wonder of nature, though I'd rather avoid it. Ditto gingko blossoms.

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  5. Thanks, yet again, Nige.

    One tree, one hundred years, and survives.
    One tree, or have we not found the family.

    Anyhow Nige, Butterflies. Not having seen any for months -and feeling short changed - drives me into thought.
    Nomenclature- Homer has the flies swarming to the milk, but no mention of butter. So why the name.

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  6. Ah Vince - a good question. I like to think that it's after the butter-yellow Brimstone, which is often the first butterfly of the year to be seen (or used to be before the Red Admiral took over - the RA was sighted on every single day of 2006!). The Brimstone is/was also likely to be the last seen, being a hibernator. Not sure if this is sound etymology...

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  7. That etymology is correct. I read it in a great essay by Anne Fadiman in her collection, "At Large and At Small." You would love it, Nige. In fact, you'd love all the essays in there.

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