I have been watching the magnolia flowers from the end of my steps as they slowly emerge and I must have mumbled something my phone overheard because this article popped into my newsfeed about how magnolia are so old that they are pollenated by beetles because bees did not exist when they were born. https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/magnolias-beetle-pollination/
Well hello Dirt! Haven't ''seen'' you for ages. Good to hear from you, and with something I could understand for a change I found that article absolutely fascinating. Thanks for sharing it. The only magnolias I've grown are ''Stellata'' smaller than the big posh trees, but still lovely, and more suitable for the conditions here. I shall watch for beetles with a whole new purpose now.
Very interesting Mr Mechanic I have ants in the cactus house as soon as it warms up, they love the nectar that some of the plants exude and they're always in and out of the flowers so I guess they pollinate a lot of them. Trouble is, after the seeds have developed, they have it away with entire seed pods so I think there's some self serving thing going on here
Beautiful flowers. The same is true for pawpaws. The flowers are stinky, like rotting meat, to attract carrion flies. Some people hang rotting meat in the trees to attract more flies (yuck). Also they are self infertile, which means the flies have to travel between different trees to pollinate the flowers. There's a book that but I forget the title
Oh - AnachronisticFruits and the Ghosts who Haunt Them. Except that's the fruits, not pollination of flowers. https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/anachronistic-fruits-and-the-ghosts-who-haunt-them/ Still interesting reading.
Thanks for that link. B has some voodoo lilies that have become quite large over time and at one point we figured out they are served by dung beetles. Seems like a pawpaw in that sense. Really cool flower but if the wind is wrong you regret having it near the house. But hey! Nature gave us tea olive to make up for the smell!
Ha ha ha !! I have three Pawpaw trees and a Tea olive planted by them !! I had flowers on the Pawpaws last year but no fruit. I didn't notice a smell, though.
The reputed age of Magnolias is going to upset the people who think the world is only 6,000 years old. Fabulous tree that they are though.
Coincidentally, @Palustris we have been reading about this subject in a booklet from 'Tomorrow's World' by Wallace G. Smith. When it comes to the creation in Genesis, and the scientific evidence of over billions of years, the author, who is a Christian as well as having a scientific mind, comes up with facts that both sides of this have apparently missed. It is a free booklet that can be readily ordered at no cost at all online from the 'Tomorrow's World' team in most countries.
