Plants

Towering talipot palms in a Rio de Janeiro park are flowering for the first and only time in their lives, decades after famed Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx introduced them in the 1960s.

Towards the end of its life — which can span between 40 and 80 years — the palm tree sends up a central plume crowded with millions of small, creamy-white blossoms that rise high above its fan-shaped leaves.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E5%B1%B1%E9%87%8E%E4%B8%AD%E7%9A%84%E5%A4%AA%E5%B9%B3%E7%89%A1%E4%B8%B9.JPG

I was on a long walk yesterday and noticed this unfamiliar plant with red berries growing by an unkempt fence line. I snapped a picture to ID later and found out it's wild asparagus. Truly wild.

• California’s native jewelflowers, a group of plants that belong to the mustard family, grow in widely diverse landscapes and microclimates across the state. But until now, scientists didn’t understand what allowed their wide distribution.
• To understand this, researchers analyzed information from nearly 2,000 specimens; dug into climate and geological databases; and amassed field observations to understand the climatic conditions that 14 species of jewelflowers need to grow and reproduce.
• Their study found that, despite living in different landscapes, from desert to valleys and mountains, jewelflowers prefer hotter and drier climates, timing their sprouting and flowering accordingly. Even those species growing in colder regions adjust their life cycle to flower later in the summer and seek drought-prone soils.
• The research shows how plants distributed across vast geographies may require specific microclimates and habitats to survive, which are potentially at risk in a warming world.

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/27546872

Not my photos.

Some friends in the Amazon recently discovered a new native fruit growing near their place, and they are now planting it in their food forest. The fruits that they found were already damaged, but the one shown in the thumbnail photo was mostly okay, and they said that the flavour reminded them of sapodilla (Manilkara zapota) and mango. The outer layer of pulp is sweeter than the segments around the seeds.

Immediately after ripening the fruits, the tree is flowering again, which is very fortunate for ID purposes.

I'd say that it's Porcelia mediocris based on the photos. Those flowers are clearly Annonaceae, and the shape of the fruit resembles other Porcelia fruits that I've seen. I arrived at the ID using these sources:

• list of Porcelia species
• This one is native to their region.
• visual confirmation of the fruit

Can anyone confirm? Does anyone think that it's something else?

This is a full hierarchy tree of green plants. All taxa are colored by kingdom/phylum/class etc it belongs to.

Here is an interactive version, but it's for all kingdoms and is based on another taxonomy database.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/26951403

I live in a "rustic" house made of wood that is not naturally termite-resistant and was apparently not treated before/during the construction. There are termites here. I know that borax works for termite-proofing wood, and it is possible to get borax in the big cities in this part of the world, but I would need to disassemble the house and treat each piece of wood. I would rather not do that. The borax is also prohibitively expensive.

The oil of Tectona grandis or Milicia excelsa or a similar tree would probably work for discouraging the termites if slathered all over the wood that they must climb in order to enter the house, but even if I can find the trees growing somewhere, processing the oil seems like a big hassle, so I am seeking a simpler solution.

I was wondering if there is a fruit (oily, perhaps) that I could apply to the wood in order to keep the termites away. Preferably with a tolerable smell, but I've lived with the smell of neem oil before, and I enjoy eating noni, so I can handle a lot. Would any of the "medicinal" fruits work for this? I live in a tropical rainforest climate, and I know people who grow fruits from all over the world, so I may be able to find something suitable if I know what to look for.

Thank you~

There were a lot of them in the more watery areas:

cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/nature@lemmy.world/t/2338202

Why beetles? You'll need to read to beelieve it.

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Many of the Annonaceae fruits (order Magnoliales) still rely exclusively on beetles for pollination. Many of these beetle species' populations have declined, or they were never abundant to begin with, so hand-pollinate for higher yield!