Botany Nerds Ahoy

Seeds. Hi mate. Hope ya well.
I’m going to try again with a parcel of books for you.

Please provide those details again and I will post to you.

Strange, Basesix received his parcel but yours, AWOL. AW

seeds wrote:

I hope you got my address when I just put it up then for 9 minutes. Probably not don’t why mail box didn’t work anyway

Shit, sorry, I didn’t get it. AW

Thanks mate, got it, it’s in the hands of our public servants again, fingers crossed. All the best.. AW

first rain here, and pretty dang heavy.. very needed.
I'm not real good at pics, but I'll try post something for AW soon.
there'll be a big response on the ground to the wet over the next little while.

Careful @ Seeds, ................................................................................................................................................................................................................putting your HA out there, you never know (I've actually done it myself here ages ago when blowin wanted to come down and teach me a lesson, he never showed btw).
My brother used to think it was hilarious to send me, unsolicited, small amounts of dope in an envelope addressed to some stupid fake name, some of them actually made it through.
It backfired on him though because when the cops, about ten of them, plain clothed drug squad, finally got around to paying me a visit, he was staying with me and shat himself. They came in pretty hot and heavy but relaxed when they cottoned on to the fact we were just a couple of dumb arses and not major drug dealers or something. No charges, they got the bag he brought with him and I got a caution.
I've also got a mate, haven't seen him for years, that was/still is a bit of a rock star. Well known, I won't name him, but he had a fan/stalker who got his home address somehow and would loiter in his street and used to send him jizz in glad wrap in letters. He even wrote a song about it that's on one of his albums.
So be careful seeds, it's out there now, you never know.
Maybe I send you something interesting myself...hehehe.

.

adam12 wrote:

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Hi mate. If you do, I hope there’ll be no jizzing around.

Could becum a sticky matter for the Wallopers. AW

Whatever happened to blowin ? , was he really greenroom ? I enjoyed some of his writings but he had a habit of taking some topics a bit too far and at times his own worst enemy, pity as he could be funny and had a talent for writing . No doubt he’s enjoying himself, hope he controls that anger at the world. Like someone said the other day , “ you never know what someone is going through “ .

Supafreak wrote:

Whatever happened to blowin ? , was he really greenroom ? I enjoyed some of his writings but he had a habit of taking some topics a bit too far and at times his own worst enemy, pity as he could be funny and had a talent for writing . No doubt he’s enjoying himself, hope he controls that anger at the world. Like someone said the other day , “ you never know what someone is going through “ .

@Supafreak.

Blowin simply just, Blewout.

I hope he is ok. Never my cuppa tea, he was anti everything. He could write and orate, that’s true, but I rarely engaged because he never provided us with ‘his’ thoughts or knowledge, it was always someone else’s or something uploaded from the internet.
He is a Human Induced Climate Change denier, I’m not, I wanted to engage with him full on and start a real discussion with intelligent information hopefully coming from both sides of the argument, a battle that I’d foresee going the length or more of shit like the Necessity for the Reparation of Past Injustices or The Israel/ Palestine war because that’s how much involvement would be required, but it was never going to be, because all he did was upload.

I’d still be up for it if he was permitted to rejoin, but I can’t see that happening because he really pissed off Stunet.

Speaking of Climate Change Wankers ( what I am apparently) according to Richard Cheese , where are you fella , hiding under a block of Gouda, too scared to come out and answer my question.

You’re all piss and wind RC. AW

Supa he was reincarnated at slackjawyokel but seems to have dropped off again

Careful. Burleigh has to change his panties anytime you mention Blowins name.

You mean like blue diamond= Paul Mac= southern raw ;

Seeds. Hi mate. I won’t be posting your books for at least ten days.
Today I managed to procure another second hand copy of that botany book I had in the first parcel.
The other three books I’ve managed to get copies of.
When I have all of them I’ll send. Thanks mushie fella. AW

Careful around these bastards. Don't ask how I know...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/teach-me/93083793/the-prett...

Island Bay wrote:

Careful around these bastards. Don't ask how I know...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/teach-me/93083793/the-prett...

Sounds like a story waiting to be told.

It's a story of intense frustration with the NZ health system and a week with a very swollen finger, and seeing 10 different doctors/nurses.

Hopefully tomorrow 12mm of Phoenix spike will be extracted from my index finger tendon/knuckle.

Youch! Hope you get it sorted. They sound nasty. I won't ask how it got there.

Island Bay wrote:

It's a story of intense frustration with the NZ health system and a week with a very swollen finger, and seeing 10 different doctors/nurses.

Hopefully tomorrow 12mm of Phoenix spike will be extracted from my index finger tendon/knuckle.

IslandBay. I’m late to this.
The thorny spines at the base of the fronds of Phoenix sp inflict tissue pain immediately, most pain comes from the injection of alkaloids into your vascular system. Double action pain from the piercing and then the pain of an unwanted substance , can last more than 48 hours. Infection often ensues as our bodies are covered in fungal spores, the ‘garbos’ of our bodies, before you know it you’ve got a fungal infection. Hope it gets resolved soon mate. AW

Nasty.

Speaking of spiky palms heres my three favourites, had all three in my parents QLD garden.

Bactris gasipaes (Peach palm)

Has the coolest spikey trunk and you can eat the fruit.

Pigaffetta elata (Pigaffeta flilaris)
Smooth truck but spikey frond base, fastest growing palm in the world, can grow a metre of trunk a year, water is like rocket fuel to them.

Salacca zalacca (Produces Snake skin fruit)

A small bushy palm with crazy spikes, not much to look at but has the coolest fruit, commonly found in Indonesia, taste pretty good like a nutty tarty apple.

Island Bay wrote:

It's a story of intense frustration with the NZ health system and a week with a very swollen finger, and seeing 10 different doctors/nurses.

Hopefully tomorrow 12mm of Phoenix spike will be extracted from my index finger tendon/knuckle.

Off topic but a work colleague inherited a pet python from her brother, it bit her on the nose and wouldn’t let her go, in the ensuing struggle the snake lost a fang deeply embedded in her nose, the plastic surgeon told her that to remove the fang would cause her more damage than any benefit in its removal so it was left in!!

indo-dreaming wrote:

Nasty.

Speaking of spiky palms heres my three favourites, had all three in my parents QLD garden.

Bactris gasipaes (Peach palm)

Has the coolest spikey trunk and you can eat the fruit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVQodNC18lQ

Pigaffetta elata (Pigaffeta flilaris)
Smooth truck but spikey frond base, fastest growing palm in the world, can grow a metre of trunk a year, water is like rocket fuel to them.

Salacca zalacca (Produces Snake skin fruit)

A small bushy palm with crazy spikes, not much to look at but has the coolest fruit, commonly found in Indonesia, taste pretty good like a nutty tarty apple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO09g0krMzg

IndoDreaming. Hi, wow, that’s some selection of interesting palms and fruits.

Salacca zalacca, now that’s an easy botanical name to remember.

Spikes are crazy, evolutionarily evolved to prevent herbivory most likely.

The scaled fruits are probably structured in a way that forces rainfall to run down the fruits to prevent rotting. That bunch in the photo looks like a gathering of Homonid scrotums.
Great pictures, Indonesians definitely love their palm fruits. AW

Cheers, AW.

Spent all of yesterday at Waikato Hospital waiting, but they decided they needed full op theatre. Back this morning, and rolled into theatre 2pm. Super good surgeon who was very relieved to see a whopping spine come out, as was I. Was stuck through and under tendon, so hard to locate.

Bonus was the delightful nurse, Heidi.

Two days of no food/water till 4pm, so pretty tired but happy now. Just local, so not even necessary.

Faark, what a palaver over a palm spike.

Good to hear that you got it sorted IB.

Felt ill just reading that IB hope you have a speedy recovery with no ongoing infection.

So relieved. Took far too long, but finally sorted.

Thanks, fellas.

@IB , wishing you a speedy infection free recovery and back in the water soon. I felt squeamish reading your post about where needle was lodged, would have been some sleepless nights I bet .

AlfredWallace wrote:

indo-dreaming wrote:

Nasty.

Speaking of spiky palms heres my three favourites, had all three in my parents QLD garden.

Bactris gasipaes (Peach palm)

Has the coolest spikey trunk and you can eat the fruit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVQodNC18lQ

Pigaffetta elata (Pigaffeta flilaris)
Smooth truck but spikey frond base, fastest growing palm in the world, can grow a metre of trunk a year, water is like rocket fuel to them.

Salacca zalacca (Produces Snake skin fruit)

A small bushy palm with crazy spikes, not much to look at but has the coolest fruit, commonly found in Indonesia, taste pretty good like a nutty tarty apple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO09g0krMzg

IndoDreaming. Hi, wow, that’s some selection of interesting palms and fruits.

Salacca zalacca, now that’s an easy botanical name to remember.

Spikes are crazy, evolutionarily evolved to prevent herbivory most likely.

The scaled fruits are probably structured in a way that forces rainfall to run down the fruits to prevent rotting. That bunch in the photo looks like a gathering of Homonid scrotums.
Great pictures, Indonesians definitely love their palm fruits. AW

Yeah the evolutionarily aspect of the spikes is interesting, i expect there is different reasons for different palms like the first one, no animal is going to be climbing up that trunk to get the fruit, but i guess when fully ripe they drop off and then get eaten and spread.

Then the snake fruit palm its only small so would help it from getting smashed by bigger animals eating the fruit.

And I can see with the Pigafetta palm that it only needs spikes on the frond bases to protect or deter animals eating it when young as the fronds aren't that strong they are kind of almost like cardboard with big air gaps inside, i expect they grow so fast to get to light and compete to get the canopy in rainforest of Maluku Islands and PNG.

They also dont do well in cyclones first to go up north QLD when they get hit.

indo-dreaming wrote:

AlfredWallace wrote:

indo-dreaming wrote:

Nasty.

Speaking of spiky palms heres my three favourites, had all three in my parents QLD garden.

Bactris gasipaes (Peach palm)

Has the coolest spikey trunk and you can eat the fruit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVQodNC18lQ

Pigaffetta elata (Pigaffeta flilaris)
Smooth truck but spikey frond base, fastest growing palm in the world, can grow a metre of trunk a year, water is like rocket fuel to them.

Salacca zalacca (Produces Snake skin fruit)

A small bushy palm with crazy spikes, not much to look at but has the coolest fruit, commonly found in Indonesia, taste pretty good like a nutty tarty apple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO09g0krMzg

IndoDreaming. Hi, wow, that’s some selection of interesting palms and fruits.

Salacca zalacca, now that’s an easy botanical name to remember.

Spikes are crazy, evolutionarily evolved to prevent herbivory most likely.

The scaled fruits are probably structured in a way that forces rainfall to run down the fruits to prevent rotting. That bunch in the photo looks like a gathering of Homonid scrotums.
Great pictures, Indonesians definitely love their palm fruits. AW

Yeah the evolutionarily aspect of the spikes is interesting, i expect there is different reasons for different palms like the first one, no animal is going to be climbing up that trunk to get the fruit, but i guess when fully ripe they drop off and then get eaten and spread.

Then the snake fruit palm its only small so would help it from getting smashed by bigger animals eating the fruit.

And I can see with the Pigafetta palm that it only needs spikes on the frond bases to protect or deter animals eating it when young as the fronds aren't that strong they are kind of almost like cardboard with big air gaps inside, i expect they grow so fast to get to light and compete to get the canopy in rainforest of Maluku Islands and PNG.

They also dont do well in cyclones first to go up north QLD when they get hit.

IndoDreaming. Hi. Thanks , interesting knowledge of the Pigafetta sp. palms.
Rightly so, it’s always about competition for light for trees in the tropics, considering the lower, upper and gallery canopy forests occur at different levels and have strategies to get to light, ultimately where they cease to grow defines those aforementioned levels.

I’ll be ‘Johnny on the Spot’ next year, for my 60th, ive already paid for a bird expedition in July for 18 days in the Maluku Islands, especially in the North, Halmahera , Morotai , Vogelkop Peninsula and some of the minor outliers.
Then swinging over to the island of Sulawesi and to the most beautiful place on earth , the medium size city of Manado.

The expedition is searching for Wallacean Endemics which to date is about 270 different species of island birds. Can’t wait.

My visit to Morotai is not just for birds, it’s possibly going to become a new Mentawai, I’ve heard a whisper, Northern Hemisphere Winter swells will give us Aussie’s enjoying an Australian Summer a place to go somewhere and surf Indo style and quality waves in a season we wouldn’t normally travel to Indo for.
Watch this space. AW

Muluku Islands and Sulawesi are two of the most rich areas of Indonesia for different Palm species

Keep your eyes out for these in those jungle area's, come in shades of orange and red.

Areca vesteria similar in colour to lipstick palms put quite different to lipstick palms (Cyrtostachys renda,)

Yeah that area has waves even been in surf mags and had the odd charter boat doing the area for a decade or more in our summer months, and is one of the half a dozen areas the Indo government is pushing for tourism, but its no next Mentawai's it doesn't have the quantity, variety, quality or consistency, and even in season when swell its mostly shorter period swells and even in season it can go flat , of course still worth visiting especially if mixed up with other interest or just tourism, but really purely for waves the Mentawais in the off season would still see more consistent high quality surf as would much of the Indo Indian ocean exposed areas.

indo-dreaming wrote:

Muluku Islands and Sulawesi are two of the most rich areas of Indonesia for different Palm species

Keep your eyes out for these in those jungle area's, come in shades of orange and red.

Areca vesteria similar in colour to lipstick palms put quite different to lipstick palms (Cyrtostachys renda,)

Yeah that area has waves even been in surf mags and had the odd charter boat doing the area for a decade or more in our summer months, and is one of the half a dozen areas the Indo government is pushing for tourism, but its no next Mentawai's it doesn't have the quantity, variety, quality or consistency, and even in season when swell its mostly shorter period swells and even in season it can go flat , of course still worth visiting especially if mixed up with other interest or just tourism, but really purely for waves the Mentawais in the off season would still see more consistent high quality surf as would much of the Indo Indian ocean exposed areas.

IndoDreaming. Hi. Hope you’re well.

Thanks for the reply.
Those palms look amazing. The Areca species is the ‘type genus’ for which the palm family derives its name, Arecaceae.

Point taken re : waves, and it’s no doubt the Mentawai’s will always be king.

I know of a charter who took a mob to a large fast peeling left hander on the NE of one of those islands.

What spawned your love of palms ? AW

that fungus infection thing from the Phoenix palms sounds very similar to what happens with the finger limes... I've been there IB, not fun when it takes so long trying to heal, then you gotta get it cut open by the doc, scraped clean, and cuaterized (or bbq'd as my doc said - certainly smelt like it).

by the way AW - you ever been to Magnetic Island? I've just arrived! first time - looks awesome with a combo of a few of my nature loves - hoop pines, big boulders and stunning beaches. About to go for a first explore...

Had the op yesterday, finally. Surgeon had trouble finding the spike, as it sat through the side of the tendon and under it. No wonder I couldn't bend the finger.

Much less swollen already. So relieved to not be waiting anymore.

GreenJam wrote:

that fungus infection thing from the Phoenix palms sounds very similar to what happens with the finger limes... I've been there IB, not fun when it takes so long trying to heal, then you gotta get it cut open by the doc, scraped clean, and cuaterized (or bbq'd as my doc said - certainly smelt like it).

by the way AW - you ever been to Magnetic Island? I've just arrived! first time - looks awesome with a combo of a few of my nature loves - hoop pines, big boulders and stunning beaches. About to go for a first explore...

GreenJam. Hi mate.

How’s things on Magnetic Island ?
I haven’t been myself but will get there one day, Oz, so much to do and see before I’m composted.
Can’t wait to hear what you discover. Keep us posted. Safe travels.AW

Hey Seeds.... i know this a a flora thread and not fauna, but how do koalas act towards humans?

Chlamydia?! Yikes. How do ya tell if one has it?

"one" meaning the dropbear

That it is, Seeds. Keeps the blood flowin, i spose. If i ever do make it that way, just cross my fingers i make it back.

g'day AW and seeds, and any others interested in Magnetic Island...

well, maybe I can call it 'Maggie' now - feeling very much at home here after just 2 days. It looks/feels like an awesome place. A bushwalker's and beachlover's paradise. I fled north mainly to escape winter, so that is definitely ticked off here. Been very mild - 16 or 17 overnight, days reaching about 26-27, not a cloud in the sky, the body is feeling very comfortable. That recent cold snap did reach up here though - was about 11 in Townsville the other morning....

anyway, botany observations - I love my dry rainforest/hoop pine scrub type communities/species, and this place has variations of that. Mostly euc woodlands, but the 'scrub' species scattered all throughout, and including emergent hoop's just about anywhere they get a hold in amongst the boulders. Lots of figs (I believe rock figs - Ficus rubignosa) growing on/out of massive boulders - it's a good look! And everything is a bit stunted, given the shallow/rocky soils, which also gives much of the landscape a bit of a 'large bonsia'd look'. Overall, it's got a really mixed/mashed up forest look about it - that's my opinion of it. More to learn on the native ecosystems... Going to try to hook up with the local landcare/coastcare groups and the 'nature care association' - no doubt will be some good knowledge amongst them.

and many very impressive banyan figs along the coastal strips/town areas. Massive spreading shady things.

and thanks seeds - I'm staying just behind Alma Beach - just had a swim a couple of hours ago. And heading over to Arthur and Florence bays later this arvo. Walked up to the Forts junction at dawn this morning, no koalas sighted, but saw 1 yesterday. Plenty of birdlife. Curlews in abundance, so plenty of screaming at night. And havent worked out what it is yet, maybe the local version of the scrub turkey, looks a bit of a cross between a moorhen and turkey, doing the scratching work turkeys do in our southern parts.

anyway, much more to explore and learn. I'll check back in with anything of interest. Sorry no photos, I havent attempted that on these forums yet...