Re: Re. Araucaria

Hi Glenn,

> out & away. When the Araucaria cone is ripe it suddenly disintegrates & all
> the bracts fall straight to the ground with the seed still attached. Given
> that these bracts are quite heavy & with pointed ends they're a positive
> menace.
> I well remember my days as a little gardener doing my apprenticeship,
> raking up under the Norfolk Pines, hearing that telltale rattle up in the
> trees & having to run like hell.

The other "tree" which requires alertness and good sprinting
capabilities in the observer, is the coconut palm. During my Army days -
in 1946 - I lived for six months in a tented camp in a coconut
plantation in the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. Coconut palms
deliver their crop by dropping the nuts (complete with their thick
fibrous husk these weight several pounds) from the top of the palm,
often 40 feet, sometimes more, above the ground. There is a very brief
rustle as the nut brushes through the leaves, then a THUD! as it reaches
the ground. That's not always the end of the drop either, often the nut
lands on the spreading base of the palm, and ricochets off horizontally
at quite high speed for several yards - enough to break an ankle if one
was nearby.

One fell on the 2 x 2 inch ridgepole of my tent one night and broke it,
another fell through the (opened) windscreen of one of our trucks, which
had been somewhat imprudently parked. Surprisingly, I do not remember
anybody being hurt, although most people in the unit had a "narrow
escape" story.

Tony
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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