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See what happens when a palm tree forgets it's not an epiphyte!
L. humilis likes to grow firmly anchored to the ground. Now I've walked a lot of the country which is its range and, without exaggeration, I've seen tens of thousands of specimens. But never one in a situation like this.
Obviously the 'host' tree is hollow, a common situation in this termite rich territory. Some birds eat the palm seeds so that's probably how the seed got so high up. Might also have been Flying Foxes. It's about 3 - 4 metres up.
The young plants produce a very long tap root which sees them through the long hot dry season. But it would have had to have been some long tap root to get that distance. I'd surmise termites filled the tree hollow with soil which was saturated by the wet season sufficiently to be able stay wet for a long period.
Looking at what's showing of the trunk that palm is several years old. But its fate is inextricably linked to the fate of the tree.
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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