Palm & Pump

[Hillizard]

Image from an article about "The Intelligence of Plants" in the Paris Review: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/09/26/the-intelligence-of-plants/

 

 

[Rickybobby]

How does that palm get anyway water

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

49 minutes ago, Rickybobby said:

How does that palm get anyway water

Thats an absolutely legitimate question there haha. I wonder what happened to it ? Still there, highy doubtful since gas station holding tanks have to be pulled out of the ground ever decade or so. 

[Palmaceae]

The palm is cool but look at those gas prices, wow! But I guess they are not that high since it is probably per liter, not gallon?

[Gonzer]

Wanna tell me how a palm, or anything for that matter, can grow atop a gasoline storage tank. I'm callin' BS.

 

[NOT A TA]

Having run a small station with tanks I can offer possibilities. That station only has one pump so less complicated.

The tank(s) aren't under the pumps. They're located a distance away usually beyond the "roof" structure so tanks can be replaced without cranes hitting the roof structure in order to get the tank high enough.  At the station in the pic you can see a concrete rectangle in the foreground with the round steel covers where the tanks are filled. The tank is under the rectangle of concrete. It's probably one tank with three compartments. Low octane, high octane, and Diesel. The middle grade of gas you buy at the station is made by combining the two gas grades to make a third grade.

If the tree was growing well prior to the roof install the the tree may have had roots down to the water table, which may be high. The ditch for the pipes would be where the foreground concrete rectangle and the concrete parking pad meet they would go straight then a 90 degree turn to the pump. So the pipes are probably about 6'-8' from the base of the palm at the closest point. I could easily see this scenario occurring if the station owner or some other folks had a sentimental attachment to the palm OR if there are city regulations that would make removing the palm costly or hold up the modernization job.

Notice the large trees in the background. They seem fine and almost the entire area surrounding them appears paved. I'm thinking they also have roots to the water table. It's common in urban settings.

[awkonradi]

Here it is.

https://goo.gl/maps/8ptH4EVXMjRVWRhs8

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

Thats pretty awesome, honestly everything @NOT A TAsaid is actually very likely to be the case. Seeing is believing haha 

[Hillizard]

"The palm tree is both immediately recognizable and an incongruous presence in the city. It is a powerful vertical line marking the urban landscape. The trunk rising up translates into a strategy for survival, concentrating its energy in order to reach up for sunshine and avoid the shade of surrounding trees; an interesting solution. The way in which it defies gravity is also very moving to me. We all are confronted by similar constraints, and the palm tree elegantly handles them, reaching high over our heads like a monument that has witnessed the city changing at its feet." -- Photographer Sebastian Mejia: "The amazing palm trees of Santiago de Chile"