Due to the flowers, this plant caught my eye on the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory. I do know palms do flower, however I had by no means seen any like these. They’re beautiful! The fishtail palm or Caryota mitis is known as for the form of its leaves which do resemble a goldfish’s tail fins. The attention-grabbing factor in regards to the fishtail palm is that it flowers from the highest of the plant to the underside after which it dies. Under is the fishtail palm at Belle Isle Conservatory together with a bigger palm.You possibly can see the place the fishtail identify got here fromThe big palm tree at Belle Isle with the fishtail palms on both aspect
Flowers
It could seem that the flowers are yellow, however these are the stamens. The precise flower is purple. They originate within the leaf axils, beginning on the prime of the mature stem and flowering their method down. When the bottom axil flower cluster dies that stem will die. As this can be a clumping plant, it should ship up suckers close to the dying stem, guaranteeing the plant continues.The flower clusterFishtail palm flowers closeupFishtail flowers nearer up
All of the spent flowers are falling to the bottom at Belle Isle Conservatory
Fruit
The fruit begins out inexperienced and finally ends up black/purple when it ripens. The seed is edible, however the comfortable half on the surface (pericarp) accommodates calcium oxalates and is inedible. In addition they might trigger pores and skin irritation if touched with out gloves, so I might avoid them.
