FW: Bloom seasons in northern and southern hemispheres
- Subject: FW: Bloom seasons in northern and southern hemispheres
- From: &* R* <c*@wr-architect.com>
- Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 22:16:20 -0800
- Importance: Normal
Forwarded for Charles:
-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Dills [c*@charter.net]
Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2004 5:18 PM
To: cheryl@wr-architect.com
Subject: Re: Bloom seasons in northern and southern hemispheres
>While I'm asking questions on behalf of others, here's another:
>
>Someone I know who grew up in South America recently spoke to someone
>else who recently returned from a trip to Australia. Both have seen
>plants--Southern Hemisphere plants especially, I think--blooming during
>the same month in both the northern and southern hemisphere (in other
>words, during opposite seasons). Is this unusual, or common? What
>season do the proteaceae shrubs bloom in South Africa and Australia?
>Most of them seem to bloom over the winter here--is that true in their
>home lands as well? I wonder if what they saw was uncommon, or if some
>of these plants tend to bloom based on an internal 12-month clock,
>regardless of season. That seems unlikely.
>
>Any anecdotes?
>
>Thanks,
>Cheryl
+++++-------------
Some years ago I was collecting bloomtime information about
bromeliads. I didn't get enough varied information to draw any
conclusions but I did we a couple inferences.
I thought I saw that some bloomed in the same season north
and south, that is six months apart. But others seemed to bloom when
they got ready.
Without going into the kind of rigorous study that would be
required for any true conclusions, I was wondering if there would be
a difference between plants that normally grow around the equator and
those that grow some distance away, like 30 deg latitude.
It seemed to me that perhaps equatorial plants that have
never really seen seasons might actually bloom when they're ready,
regardless of season. And the corollary might be that plants at 30
deg that experience seasons might show a seasonal preference for
blooming.
To back this up a bit, I had an opportunity to make a brief
visit to Ecuador some years ago. We were almost on the equator. The
large Kapok tree, Ceibo, was visible, rising above the lower growth
around them. I saw trees in full leaf, like mid-summer, next to ones
that were completely leafless, like mid-winter. Each seemed to be on
its own clock.
Curious! ---Chas---
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