These baby black cherries are growing in a crevice on a huge hurricane downed oak on here at Pure Florida. The fallen section of the oak is a horizontal trap for defecated cherry and palm pits that the birds deposit as they flit about it's dead branches. The tree has been decomposing since the amazing 2004 hurricane season and the niche in the trunk has enough detritus in it to support, temporarily, these treelings.
In the photo above, a cabbage palmling is also growing among the cherries. See the spike? The reason this is only a temporary nursery is the horizontal trunk sits a few feet off the ground, supported by a few huge branches. All it will take is a brief dryspell in the heat of the approaching summer and these little guys will be toast as the thin layer of decomposed tree dries out. I think if I'm real gentle, I can work these babies out of the crevice and replant them. Surely, it's worth a try.
6 comments:
It would be great to transplant those babies. I hope they thrive and produce delicious black cherries for you. We often delight in the random plantings brought to us by our feathered friends.
are the black cherries the same thing as what I've always called a mock cherry tree? Mama said they're not edible. You'd be proud of the alligator shot B and I got on the way to WM. He was taking a sun bath on the bank of our newly full retention pond just out of town. There was also a duck looking critter...prolly not a lucky duck...LOL... I crack me up.
and now that I read that comment I think I'm channeling Adam Sandler's Waterboy...
How nice of the birds to plant them for you! Hope you find another nice spot for them to grow bigger in.
So nice to see green!
And it amazes me to see palm trees growing wild and free. I have two sagos and a majesty (in the house of course) and they require constant fussing just to keep them alive.
BTW, thanks for sending that first robin that Alan saw Saturday!
Robin,
Down here, the wild black cherry makes small fruits that are edible but bitter (Prunus serotina).
The birds love them tho.
Mel,
Yeah, see above. I eat them sometimes, won't hurt ya'. The pioneers used to make an alcoholic drink from them.
Laurahinnj,
The birds are my best help in diversifying my forest.
ThreeCollie,
And I should thank somebody in Central America for the first swallowtail kite of the year today!
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