SEQ 500m
For those interested in this data:
Past few years I've watched green Satin Bowerbirds feeding on developing
flowers of the Liquidambar next to the house. Finally yesterday I was able to
see what they're doing, mechanically--
They first snap off the (male) raceme & drop it to the ground. Immediately they
feed with gusto on what's left behind. Examination, & the description BELOW,
would suggest this is the female flower (containing "many ovules"). After a
time the birds all drop to the ground, near/under the hedge beneath, & forage
among the dead leaves there.
Cheers
Judith...
According to Wikipedia (text & photos at Mobile site
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidambar_styraciflua# ), the "Sweetgum"
flowers "are typically about 1–1.5 inches (25–38 mm) in diameter and are
covered with rusty hairs.[12] The flowers are unisexual[17]and greenish in
color. Staminate flowers in terminal racemes two to three inches long, the
pistillate in a solitary head on a slender peduncle borne in the axil of an
upper leaf. Staminate flowers destitute of calyx and corolla, but are
surrounded by hairy bracts. Stamens indefinite; filaments short; anthers
introrse. Pistillate flowers with a two-celled, two-beaked ovary, the carpels
produced into a long, recurved, persistent style. The ovaries all more or less
cohere and harden in fruit. There are many ovules but few mature.[9]"
JLA
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