I am still surprised every time I see this tree. There are three individual Crescentia Alatas
that I know well but this one is my favorite. Actually, it is a pair of very
old trees growing in the middle of granite boulders that are the home of a
family of black iguanas. The fruit growing from the branches seems the work of
a glue gun rather than evolution. The leaves also look somehow glued together
and they grow lining the taller branches like armies of small people walking
upward toward the sun. Even though the tree blooms throughout the year I have
seen explosions of blooms after very heavy rains.
Cauliflory is the growth of flowers from tree trunks and
main branches rather than the tips of the small branches at the top of the
tree. This placement allows smaller trees to compete with the taller ones by
attracting non-flying or low flying pollinators to flowers that are also
accessible to crawling insects and small terrestrial mammals. In terms of
echolocation, a large flower stands out from a relatively smooth trunk much
more than small flowers on the end of small branches.
I imagine that the internal system of nutrient delivery must
be quite different in cauliflorous plants than in conventional
angiosperms. Another cauliflorous tree
with is the Therabroma Cacao, which has small flowers and is pollinated by
mites and beetles, the trees that target small mammals as pollinators have
evolved larger flowers with more nectar to appeal to these mammals’ larger
appetites.
Bats
ability to fly gave them an advantage over these terrestrial mammals, although
the bats that feed from the Crescentia Alata must not only fly but also be able
to hover like hummingbirds. Bats that pollinate cacti and agave must land on
the plant in order to feed. But hovering takes a lot of energy, so these bats
have evolved long tongues with erectile hairs on their tips that plump up when
dipped in nectar to maximize nectar volume intake.
What does the plant gain from catering exclusively to bats?
Bats carry more pollen than insects can on the special hairs
of their head and face. The pollen is also more varied because bats travel so
far between trees to feed. This trap line way of feeding carries the pollen
further afield. Bats are the champions of tropical reforestation yet the fragmentation
of tropical habitats puts nectar-feeding bats at the highest risk for
extinction of all bat species.
You can buy it online at our Etsy shop!!!
You can buy it online at our Etsy shop!!!