One of Britain's most popular tourist spots has got itself a Madagascan suicide palm, one of the world's rarest plants. When you find out how its lifecycle goes, you won't be surprised that there aren't many around.
The rarest plant at the Eden Project
Cornwall’s most celebrated eco-tourism site, the Eden Project, has a new rarest plant: a palm called Tahina spectabilis, which is native to the Analalava district, very small, remote region in north-western Madagascar.
There are apparently only 40 or so left growing wild, with a handful cultivated elsewhere across the world in Thailand, Costa Rica, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, and now Cornwall.
Why is it so noteworthy? Well, at the moment you could be forgiven that it looks like every other palm tree you’ve ever seen — and honestly we’d have some sympathy for that view. But wait until it flowers: it will produce an ‘inflorescence’, which is a pyramid-shaped panicle that can grow 4-5 metres above the crown of the palm and consists of hundreds of three-flowered clusters.
Sounds incredible, right? The down side is that it will only flower once in its life, taking 30 or 40 years to do so, and then die out immediately afterwards, something which has earned it the nickname ‘the Madagascan suicide palm’.
Nature really can be cruel.
And also: you begin to see why this plant is so rare.
Members of the Eden Project staff with their Tahina spectabilis. It might be small now, but it won’t be far off hitting the roof once it’s fully grown.
Quiz of the Day
1) Uxoricide is the killing of one’s what?
2) Mr Wopsle appears in which Dickens novel?
3) A groat was worth how many old pennies?
4) What is the common name for Bufo bufo?
5) Which newspaper broke the UK parliamentary expenses scandal in 2009?
The things you see on the South West Path
This parasol mushroom was spotted, and snapped, by photographer Milos Ruzicka in Cornwall at the end of last week. Kudos to him for resisting the urge to boot it off the cliff and watch in joy as it soared gracefully through the air and into the waves below.
Credit: Getty Images / Milos Ruzicka
Read all about it
Good news! The Petworth Literary Festival is on this week.
Bad news! Dame Judi Dench’s show is already sold out.
Good news! There are still plenty of tickets left for most of the shows.
Bad news! One of those is a lecture about the last two hundred years’ worth of General Elections.
Good news! Nobody says you have to go to that one, and you can (at the time of writing) still book slots to see Tony Hawks, Kathy Lette, Charlie Bigham and John Lewis-Stempel. Hooray!
Find out more at petworthfestival.org.uk
The story of a flying car
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang‘s 1968 movie was loosely based on Ian Fleming’s novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car — and they even changed the name of the hero. Credit: Atlaspix / Alamy
Mary Miers delved in to the story of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the children’s tale created by 007 author Ian Fleming when he decided to take a break from Bond. Not only did Fleming not live to see the 1968 film (above), he died even before seeing the books published in 1964. Read the full story here.
Still on the market
This cracker we featured a few months ago is not only for sale, but even reduced to a snip at £1.8 million.
That’s it — we’re back tomorrow
Quiz answers
1) Wife
2) Great Expectations
3) Four
4) Toad
5) The Daily Telegraph
