Nature

Pretty in pink

Silk treePink flowers of the floss-silk tree are the autumnal corollary of spring's lavender jacaranda blooms that color Los Angeles streets. Tim McGarry at Angels and Vagabonds blogs an appreciation, along with some info on Chorisia speciosa: "The trunks are unusual – they have thorns. The fruit, which appears along with the flowers, resemble avocados. Inside, seeds come wrapped in dense masses of silky hairs – the better, apparently, for dispersal in the wind. The fibers make poor thread, but they are waxy and waterproof. In World War II, they were widely used as stuffing for government-issue life jackets. Chorisia has some interesting family relationships. As a member of the Bombacaceae (or “cotton-tree”) family, Chorisia is related to baobab and kapok trees. It is also cousin to the trees that serve as the source of balsa wood, as well as to the trees that produce that odiferous Asian favorite, the durian fruit." More at Tim's blog.


More by Kevin Roderick:
Standing up to Harvey Weinstein
The Media
LA Times gets a top editor with nothing but questions
LA Observed Notes: Harvey Weinstein stripped bare
LA Observed Notes: Photos of the homeless, photos that found homes
Recent Nature stories on LA Observed:
Cubs P-57 and P-58 have died in the Santa Monicas
Palm weeds of Santa Susana
New male lions: Meet P-55 and P-56
P-51 found dead on freeway where mother and other cub died
Cub P-52 killed on same freeway as mother lion
Time for some weather geeking
P-39 hit and killed crossing freeway
King (or queen) of the mountain


 

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