If it’s colorful, it’s part of making babies

“If it’s green on a plant, it’s part of making energy. If it’s colorful, it’s part of making babies.” When I share my simple rule of figuring out what something on a plant is, people put their hand to their head and say, “That makes sense!” or “I guess I knew that.”

Last week I got an email with two pictures of parts a cycad. This lady who sent the email had found some female cones on her native Coontie palm. “What are these things?” she asked. I sent her my lesson.

Coonties are in a group of plants called cycads, along with sago palms. If you know sagos, then you recognize the tip of the iceberg - there are tons of different kinds.

Some are extremely rare, coveted, and illegal to trade over national borders, and some are outrageously expensive.

Every single one, though, is either male or female. On the left, we have an almost ready-to-be-pollinated female part, and on the right, a very excited male, emperor sago.

As I’ve mentioned in a few posts, I’ve been confined to a chair for over a week now. I'm getting better, and I have surgery scheduled, but there have been days I mostly sleep. I haven’t been gardening. Which means I don’t have any good plant people stories to tell.

But the email from the cycad lady brought to mind the time I got to dip my toes into the somewhat shadowy, money-means-nothing world of cycad collectors. I fictionalized it for my novella, changing names and the location of the estate/cyad collection we got to dig from. This chapter works as a stand-alone story.

Enjoy a short story and ride along on my adventures buying a rare, spectacular lady cycad.

Here i the Link to Chapter 26 of Once You Go Back