These taste really nice by the way. Beware of the thorns though.

Berries are such weird little guys. Love the photo.

They look like skeleton arms reaching back up

Fungi and bacteria that are beneficial to plants are so interesting, too.

That's "parviflorum"? I wonder how large grandiflorum is

I've got another fun fact that adjacently relates to this plant.

So the ghost pipe leeches off of those mycorrhizal fungi, but those fungi share a symbiotic relationship with the tree. The fungi help the trees absorb water and nutrients and the fungi get sugar in return. Some of the most well known plants wouldn't be nearly as present if this relationship didn't happen. Take wild blueberries for example. They grow in acidic soil that is poor in nutrients. They'd die without these fungi. While not all mycorrhizal relationships are necessary, a vast majority of plants have this relationship.

That blew my mind when I first read it, lol. Sorry for ranting.

This stuff is so interesting to me.

Thanks for the details! Looking at the picture I tricked myself thinking they were 3 feet tall. They look as big as the tree(twig) next to them

These ones were probably 8" or so IIRC. I think these were the tallest I've found so far. Usually they're shorter and more hunched over.

The ones in my woods grow 3 or 6 inches tall. This picture makes them look huge!

It does look like a scrotum, lol

Apple AirPods growing in their natural habitat

“We can’t call it THAT! What about… slipper? It kinda looks like one too!”

That's interesting, thanks for sharing. I've not seen this plant before, too cool.

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

Reminds me of Common Broomrape - horrible name, pretty plant. It's another parasite that can't photosynthesise, it has a similar growth profile.

I'm not sure, but that is a good point. That and seed dispersal seem like a good reason, that or it's a latent trait from a shared ancestor.

They’re so spooky!

I wonder why they grow so tall, if they’re not reaching for the sun. Must be a pollination thing?

I’ve always thought these are such beautiful and unique-looking plants.

Mmmm wild corn dogs

The ambience is dreamy. Definitely fitting with the festivities.

Thank you. Feel free to share away.

I actually just ordered some of that and planted it under a few trees in the yard. Criminally underrated and neglected in landscaping because of its pernicious Asian counterpart. Thanks for highlighting its beauty I'm going to share this image.

I think so too. They have such a happy attitude about them. I always have a good time photographing them.

Chickadees are such fun critters to watch! Always flitting all over the place

In addition to Flamengo Park, the talipot palms can be found in Rio’s Botanical Garden, where they are also flowering.

That’s because they were brought across from southern Asia together, have the same metabolism and have been exposed to the same Brazilian rhythm of daylight, according to Aline Saavedra, a biologist at Rio de Janeiro State University.

Saavedra said that environmental laws strictly regulate transporting species native from another continent, although talipot palms are not invasive due to their slow development.

The interest the phenomenon has generated is positive and could encourage a sense of belonging for human beings to preserve rather than destroy the environment, according to Saavedra.

The palms themselves don't make for such an impressive story beyond being pretty, but this is an important point. People often conflate "foreign" with "invasive" or "harmful" when it comes to plants and even to other humans, but on what basis? In some cases, sure, plants can grow out of control with no natural competition or certain groups of people can refuse to live peacefully alongside people who don't share their background, but in most cases, migrants are harmless. Regulating and restricting migration or transport of plant material is an attack on personal freedom. These palms are an excellent example of a harmless species from a foreign land adjusting to their new home and co-existing peacefully with an untold diversity of plants, both native and non-native, in the park and the botanical garden, yet the government still discriminates against them due to their ancestors' foreign origin. Are we not all native to the Earth? Do we not all have the birthright to move freely? If someone wants to bring seeds of a beautiful plant (which takes decades to reach sexual maturity!) from one place to another, who are they harming?

Perhaps seeing these towering palms flowering so prolifically and then bearing fruit may inspire even a few people to recognise the interconnectedness of life on Earth and that the divisions are human social constructs. If farmers in Brasil can grow soya from China, and if vineyards in California can grow grapes from Italy, and if hardcore fruit people in Japan can grow watermelons from East Africa, and if peasants in Ireland can grow potatoes from the Andes, and if all of these introduced plants can become so thoroughly accepted by the local people as to become economically important, then surely we can extend that acceptance to other plants, and other organisms including sentient beings, as well.