Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tree tuesday - more coconuts


from around the city.

I realise that i have seldom seen a straight coconut tree. They all have trunks that are a little curved - even the ones in places with little other competition for the overhead sun. Is it the weight of all those nuts and huge leaves that makes the tree bent? I wonder..
The neigbour's coconut tree

2 comments:

The Phytophactor said...

Most coconuts have curved trunks some seemingly almost falling over, a very astute observaton and there is a biological reason why. Coconuts are dispersed by floating. Those that get beached or thrown ashore at or a bit above the high tide mark have won the dispersal jackpot. And there the palms grow in a line above the beach, but to disperse their fruits and seeds, they lean outwards, sometimes drastically, so that when their fruits fall they will be picked up by waves and carried away by the retreating tides. The fact that humans have planted coconut palms all over has not significantly altered their biology in this respect.

A. said...

fascinating, thank you!