Take, for instance, this palm plant. It sits in our screened porch at my left elbow when I'm sitting in my favorite rocking chair. And if the recent steamy Indiana weather wasn't enough, it gives the porch an extra tropical feel.
It loves its home. Yesterday Mom noticed that a new shoot has sprouted. What we found especially interesting was the way it grows -- it has a tall, cylindrical spike shape. And now it's splitting open:
But here's the cool part: we expect that today or tomorrow it will "pop!" open and end up like this:
It amazes me that all these leaves are folded inside of that one shoot, and they unfold, perfectly spaced along the stem.Without seeing how it started, I would have thought that the individual shoots would just keep extending at the ends, growing new leaves as it went.
I'm sure there's a reason it grows this way. Isn't Mother Nature fascinating?
Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens in natural light at about 7:00 p.m.
1st photo: 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 400
2nd photo: 1/60s, f/2.8 at ISO 400
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