A big “Hello” to all the folks back home!
Here we are visiting in Florida and we came upon this very interesting plant, so we thought we’d take a photo of it to send to everybody back there.
What we’ve learned from the folks around here is that this is called a Sago Palm, even though it’s not really and truly a palm.
They say it’s actually a cycad, which is very similar to the palm, and the history of the plant goes back into prehistoric times--originally from parts of Japan, we’re told.
The plant grows outdoors in warm climates--not freezing cold or worse.
But, they say it makes a dandy house plant in a container if you keep it under the proper growing conditions.
These sago palms need plenty of bright sunshine and a very loose soil, like sand--I think that’s why we’re seeing so many of them here in Florida. Conditions are just right.
They also don’t seem to need a whole lot of moisture to keep them going.
When we asked people about that funny-looking lighter colored torch coming out of the plant, they told us that this particular plant was a male plant and that this was sort of equivalent to a cone and produced the pollen to fertilize the flowers of the female sago palms.
Female flowers are different in appearance, somewhat flat and sort of “frilly” like the leaves of a cabbage or a rose blossom.
Well, Nature is sure full of wondrous sights and amazing things to learn about!
And, since we were lucky enough to see this plant and to photograph it and to learn a little bit about it, we thought we’d share our information with you.
Hope you enjoy looking at the photo.
Please say “hello” to Uncle Ned and Aunt Lizzie for us, and tell everybody we hope to see them all real soon.
