Protea cynaroides

This striking, deep red king protea is named after South Africa's former State President Nelson Mandela, who is known to millions by his clan name, Madiba. Longmore Flower Estates is situated in "Mandela country" in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Like its famous namesake, adverse conditions bring out the best in the red "Madiba".

Protea cynaroides is sought after for its unique beauty and its excellent vase life. Longmore Flower Estates are South Africa's largest growers of this magnificent protea. The blooms are picked from August to November. (www.longmoreflowers.co.za)

madagascar flowers

A “new” species of palm has been discovered on the island of Madagascar, thanks to its flowering finale.

Botanists around the world are popping the corks over Tahina spectabilis, a gigantic palm tree just discovered in the northwest of Madagascar, even though the plant, blooming its head off, is about to die. ”Details of the flowers and branches suggested it was a species and genus of palm that had never been described before,” reports the Guardian. “Genetic tests on the plant confirmed that it comes from an evolutionary line that was not previously known to exist in Madagascar.”

Actually, plant discoveries have been coming pretty fast and furious on this big island off the east coast of Africa. “Out of the 10,000 plants native to Madagascar, 90% of them are found nowhere else in the world.” The huge palm gave itself away with a spectacular show of flowering.

Whereas most palm trees bloom periodically throughout their lives, this giant shoots the moon. “Once it is fully grown, the tip of the stem branches into hundreds of tiny flowers that sap nutrients from the plant so rapidly that it collapses.” On a stroll with his family, Xavier Metz, the manager of a nearby cashew plantation, spotted the huge flower stalk cascading in the sky. He took pictures and posted them on the web, attracting the attention of the plant experts at Kew Gardens and botanists around the world.

“Ever since we started work on the palms of Madagascar in the 1980s, we have made discovery after discovery,” said John Dransfield, an English scientist. “But to me this is probably the most exciting of them all.” Tahina spectabilis is a thrill for several reasons: its size (some say it grows ”six stories tall”), its novelty, and its dissimilarity from other palms thus far found on the island.

Press releases said that the tree was named for Metz’s daughter Tahina, and that “‘Spectabilis’ means ‘blessed’ or ‘to be protected.’” But we side with the Ethical Paleontologist, who believes that Tahina must mean “blessed” in Malagasy (whether it’s Metz’s daughter’s name or not); and “spectabilis” means, well, “Geez, lookadat!”

Madagascar owes its immense plant diversity primarily to two features: its range of climate zones and its isolation. There are tropical rainforests on the island’s eastern side, while the west and south, “in the rain shadow of the central highlands, are home to tropical dry forests, thorn forests, and deserts and xeric shrublands.” This shoot-the-moon palm tree was discovered in yet another bioregion, the northwest part of the island. Check out the map at right, via the Missouri Botanical Garden, which has a concerted plant research project of its own ongoing in Madagascar.

We find it curious that in the plant world, isolation is so conducive to diversity, whereas in the human social world, those environments that are least isolated tend to be the most diverse (New York City versus North Dakota). Cities seem to attract ethnic complexity, even as they destroy it—melting down distinctions in the longer run. There is a case to be made for geographic isolation in human culture, too. We think of Gee’s Bend, a particle of land cut off by a loop in the Alabama River. The society of Gee’s Bend is not in itself diverse, but its relative isolation fostered an original flowering of its own, rare and spectacular as a six-story palm. ”Gee’s, lookadeese!”(www.humanflowerproject.com)

ORCHID

This beautiful flower is an orchid (family Orchidaceae), Eulophia cucullata. It is quite widespread in Africa (including South Africa) and Madagascar. It varies in intensity color, but is easily recognized because of the shape and size of the flower. Malawi, although one of Africa's smallest countries, boasts several orchid species than any other African country, testimony to its diversity of habitats. Orchids comprise the most diverse plant family, with over 25,000 species. Eulophia genus includes about 40 species.

Photo identified by C. Archer, National Herbarium, National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.

KNIPHOFIA

Also called "red hot poker" the kniphofia (Kniphofia uvaria) is widespread in upland savannas throughout central and Eastern Africa. It is a popular garden plant and grows as a perennial even in temperate regions. It was named after a Dutchman, Johann Hieronymus Kniphof (1704-1763), professor of medicine and a botanical illustrator. There are about 50 species in the genus, restricted to southern Africa.(www.junglephotos.com)

DOLICHOS FLOWER

This flower was growing wild in the Highlands of Malawi, in Nyika National Park. It is most likely Dolichos kilimandscharicus, a member of the bean family. In Malawi, according to an FAO report, the dried powdered root is used as protecting shelled corn from insects.

BULBINE FLOWER

This beautiful flower is most likely Bulbine abyssinica as there are very few pictures on the Internet. It is a perennial, growing two to three meters high. It is a member of the Asphodelaceae family, which also includes Kniphofia. This family's distribution centers on the ancient world, particularly southern Africa, but its biology is poorly known total.