Arenga habitat photos from Miyako island

[palmfriend]

Hello everyone,

 

after some busy New Year`s days and family events I got some hours for myself today and checked

out a place recommended by a local friend who is not in palms at all but knows that place as a kind 

untouched habitat since his childhood. 

If you are interested in a short tour - please lay back and enjoy.

...

We had 25C/77F today and it was rainy, perfect conditions since the green of the plants seems to be stronger than usual on those days.

Alright, here we go:

It turned out to be a forest belonging to an elementary school, named (roughly translated) "A forest to learn/for learning"

Beautiful green - I started to get curious about what I will find...

No, still not what I was looking for, but beautiful green...

Oh, and here we are, the first Arenga "shows up" in the boscage.

Excited I took some steps into the wood to take a closer look.

Countless stems - very long, so very likely Arenga ryukyuensis...

Longer than 4 meters, no way to get them in one picture.

Moving on slowly....

...a real big one on the right. I had to step in to get a feeling for its size.

Deeply impressed!

Taking a closer look on the ground....

Could this be a young Arenga? I have never seen a seedling/plant sold over here, so I am not sure. This one has already 3 stems...

A few inches away a young plant that looks like a young Cycas revoluta. 

Back on track moving on deeper into the forest more and more Arenga palms appeared. 

Everywhere.

Another big one. Interesting was, I haven`t found a single one with fruits - it seems not to be the right time.

At that time the light rain turned into a real down pour, starting to soak me since I had just a small umbrella with me which

I used mainly to keep the camera dry.  

On the way out I took some final photos...

I just love to watch it: (warm) rain on palms...

Just beautiful! I guess this is pretty close to what Miyako island`s original habitat looked like ages ago and 

I am very glad that some of those places are still remaining and obviously being (actively) protected for further generations to show and "to learn".

Thank you for your time -

best regards

Lars

 

[Cindy Adair]

Wow, what a lovely and educational topic. Thanks so much for my breakfast reading!

I can see you would likely enjoy the hike to see the Sabinaria with expert Dr. Bernal in Colombia... 

Keep up the great posts!

 

[palmfriend]

Correction:

I must have switched the palm`s name in my mind when making this thread - my honest apologizes!

I meant A. engleri (stems up to 4m long) while typing A. ryukyuensis (stem are usually much shorter, not longer than 2m)...

best regards

Lars

[Phoenikakias]

Those seedlings ain't from Arenga. They look like ... Chamaedorea ones or probably from many other candidate spp but certainly not Arenga engleri. Arengas seedlings has prior to division of the leaf to pinnae, a whole leaf resembling vaguely duck's foot.

[palmfriend]

13 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Those seedlings ain't from Arenga. They look like ... Chamaedorea ones or probably from many other candidate spp but certainly not Arenga engleri. Arengas seedlings has prior to division of the leaf to pinnae, a whole leaf resembling vaguely duck's foot.

Thank you very much for your description - it makes a lot of sense since the young Arengas close to the main stems looked not like the one I posted which I considered it as a

possible Arenga seedling. 

Ευχαριστώ πολύ!

Lars

 

[palmfriend]

3 hours ago, Cindy Adair said:

Wow, what a lovely and educational topic. Thanks so much for my breakfast reading!

I can see you would likely enjoy the hike to see the Sabinaria with expert Dr. Bernal in Colombia... 

Keep up the great posts!

 

Dear Cindy,

Thank you very much for your kind comment!

Exploring a palm`s habitat is a very intensive and exciting experience, I am very thankful of having such areas over here.

I will keep going posting about my activities, giving something in return since I gain so much through this great forum and its members.

best regards

Lars

 

[PalmatierMeg]

Very beautiful habitat photos, Lars. It's great to see palms that aren't often featured in forum topics. Thanks.

[Kim]

Thanks for enduring the downpour to be able to share these beautiful forest photos.