Palm Day at Kew

(page 5)

Lunchtime crept up on us and we returned to Jodrell for a buffet feast prepared for us by Eric Taylor. Admiring with our eyes whilst waiting in line to serve ourselves, I commented to Fous de Palmiers Monsieur & Madame Renard, from Montpellier how good everything looked, and Jean Luc jokingly replied that the British had surely made a special effort since they knew they were playing host to the French. When I passed this on to British members present I was asked to assure the French that the Brits eat like this every day! Three cheers to Eric for the copious spread appreciated so much by all the visitors. We enjoyed our meal sitting on the lawn of the lecture theatre, getting to know each other better and sharing notes.

Next on the programme, was a talk by Dr John Dransfield, entitled "My Favourite Palms". He, too, illustrated his talk with slides showing us a vast array of many peoples' favourites, including his own. We all puzzled at the final slide of an extremely unusual palm in the garden of Marty Darian in Vista, California. Dr Dransfield and Natalie Uhl of Cornell University in New York had spent a good while contemplating this specimen in total mystification, before learning that it was a sculpture and made of 100% steel! Chamaedorea metallica eat your heart out!

Following Dr. Dransfield's talk, we once again divided into our two groups. Alternately one group took the short coach ride to the Palm Centre nearby to admire and buy some of the extensive collection of palms, cycads, and books for sale (there was a run on the rare and highly prized Needle Palm - Rhapidophyllum hystrix).

Meanwhile the other group was escorted by David Cooke to the Temperate House to look at the non-tropical palms with which we Europeans are more familiar, and thence to the palm nursery where seeds are sown and seedlings are raised.

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