Towering talipot palms in a Rio de Janeiro park are flowering for the first and only time in their lives, decades after famed Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx introduced them in the 1960s.
Towards the end of its life — which can span between 40 and 80 years — the palm tree sends up a central plume crowded with millions of small, creamy-white blossoms that rise high above its fan-shaped leaves.
Jim East - 1w
In addition to Flamengo Park, the talipot palms can be found in Rio’s Botanical Garden, where they are also flowering.
That’s because they were brought across from southern Asia together, have the same metabolism and have been exposed to the same Brazilian rhythm of daylight, according to Aline Saavedra, a biologist at Rio de Janeiro State University.
Saavedra said that environmental laws strictly regulate transporting species native from another continent, although talipot palms are not invasive due to their slow development.
The interest the phenomenon has generated is positive and could encourage a sense of belonging for human beings to preserve rather than destroy the environment, according to Saavedra.
The palms themselves don't make for such an impressive story beyond being pretty, but this is an important point. People often conflate "foreign" with "invasive" or "harmful" when it comes to plants and even to other humans, but on what basis? In some cases, sure, plants can grow out of control with no natural competition or certain groups of people can refuse to live peacefully alongside people who don't share their background, but in most cases, migrants are harmless. Regulating and restricting migration or transport of plant material is an attack on personal freedom. These palms are an excellent example of a harmless species from a foreign land adjusting to their new home and co-existing peacefully with an untold diversity of plants, both native and non-native, in the park and the botanical garden, yet the government still discriminates against them due to their ancestors' foreign origin. Are we not all native to the Earth? Do we not all have the birthright to move freely? If someone wants to bring seeds of a beautiful plant (which takes decades to reach sexual maturity!) from one place to another, who are they harming?
Perhaps seeing these towering palms flowering so prolifically and then bearing fruit may inspire even a few people to recognise the interconnectedness of life on Earth and that the divisions are human social constructs. If farmers in Brasil can grow soya from China, and if vineyards in California can grow grapes from Italy, and if hardcore fruit people in Japan can grow watermelons from East Africa, and if peasants in Ireland can grow potatoes from the Andes, and if all of these introduced plants can become so thoroughly accepted by the local people as to become economically important, then surely we can extend that acceptance to other plants, and other organisms including sentient beings, as well.
wolfyvegan in plants
Decades-old palm trees in Rio de Janeiro flower for the first — and only — time
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/decades-old-palm-trees-in-rio-de-janeiro-flower-for-the-first-and-only-time/The palms themselves don't make for such an impressive story beyond being pretty, but this is an important point. People often conflate "foreign" with "invasive" or "harmful" when it comes to plants and even to other humans, but on what basis? In some cases, sure, plants can grow out of control with no natural competition or certain groups of people can refuse to live peacefully alongside people who don't share their background, but in most cases, migrants are harmless. Regulating and restricting migration or transport of plant material is an attack on personal freedom. These palms are an excellent example of a harmless species from a foreign land adjusting to their new home and co-existing peacefully with an untold diversity of plants, both native and non-native, in the park and the botanical garden, yet the government still discriminates against them due to their ancestors' foreign origin. Are we not all native to the Earth? Do we not all have the birthright to move freely? If someone wants to bring seeds of a beautiful plant (which takes decades to reach sexual maturity!) from one place to another, who are they harming?
Perhaps seeing these towering palms flowering so prolifically and then bearing fruit may inspire even a few people to recognise the interconnectedness of life on Earth and that the divisions are human social constructs. If farmers in Brasil can grow soya from China, and if vineyards in California can grow grapes from Italy, and if hardcore fruit people in Japan can grow watermelons from East Africa, and if peasants in Ireland can grow potatoes from the Andes, and if all of these introduced plants can become so thoroughly accepted by the local people as to become economically important, then surely we can extend that acceptance to other plants, and other organisms including sentient beings, as well.