Hello Steemians, let's play a guessing game today. What is this?
Something from the bottom of the sea? An army of triffids?
I'm in Lusaka this week and had this view from my hotel room balcony. We're well into the rainy season and Lusaka is looking lush. I don't know what those trees below are, but they are incredibly beautiful with their long stalks of flowers (are those flowers?) and their symmetric leaf mops.
Here's a closer look.
I took those photos on my phone and hoped the zoom would give me a result which was reasonably in focus. Success! It was only when I looked at the photos on my computer that I realised there was a little fellow enjoying himself on the treetop. Here's a slightly better view of the bird - it might be a bulbul but I really can't tell. But the bird got me thinking...normally we humans wouldn't see the tops of those trees because we'd be walking underneath them. That delightful symmetry would possibly appeal to species which spend time above the trees, not below them. What a privilege to be above that canopy and witness the elegance and artistry of evolutionary design.
Does anyone know what these trees are?
A bit of whimsy
And bonus photo for those who read through to the end - a Lusaka snail seen on my way back from gym, in the same place I saw it as I was going to gym. Why a snail pic? Just because I enjoyed yesterday's Google Doodle which featured the Tortoise and the Hare at the Winter Olympics.
Team South Africa banner designed by @bearone
We have these trees down here on the KZN South Coast as well. I will see if I can get someone to tell me what they are called.
Thanks, @sea-cottage, will really appreciate it.
Thank you for trying, @mudasra 😊😊
Hi Kiligirl , what a cool picture. From your window the tree doesn’t look akk that large, until you see a bird sitting on top of one of the umbrellas. I will be curious to know what they are also. Let me know when you find out. Hope you are well in Lusaka. Ellie Mae❣️🐓🐓
Glad you thought the pic was cool, Ellie Mae. The more I look at it, the more I think it looks like a kiwi fruit turned inside out 😜😜. I'm really curious to find out what the trees are.
Hello @kiligirl
Thisnis undoubtedly beautiful photo collections. Unfortunately I don't have an answer with respect to your question on who knows what tree is. I hope you had an amazing time at Lusaka?
@eurogee of @euronation community & The Host, Show Us Your Witnesses Weekly Contest
will be here until the end of the week. It's a good place to do business. Appreciate you stopping in! 😊😊Well, thank you for your kind words, @eurogee! I'm still having an amazing time in Lusaka, as I always do -
😀welcome Sis.
😊😊
So nice to see all the critters out and about enjoying the rains and how lush it is.
It's true - I wish I could be a small bird that could hide on top of a tree.
The trees look like jelly to me :-)
Enjoy the rest of you trip xx
Thank you, @lynb! They look like kiwi fruit turned inside out to me. Quite amazing. :-) Love 😘😘
First of all, great and interesting photography! Second, I have never seen such a tree. From the first picture, it seems as if it is a plant, but then I was amazed to see the other pictures, and found that these are trees. I guess, decorative trees, because it is not very common to have fruit tree in a hotel? Anyway, really interesting post @kiligirl :)
Thank you for those kind words and your interest, @darlene.kitchen. It's not that uncommon to have fruit trees at hotels in Southern Africa, but I'm still not even sure those are fruits and not flowers. Anyway, glad you found it interesting, and happy you stopped by 😊😊
Pemandangan yang sangat indah saya suka postingannya @kiligirl
Terima kasih, @awahidsteem! (and terima kasih to Google Translate as well :-))
I am really curious to know about these trees.
I guess some kind of fruit tree?
Maybe! I can't tell what those red things are from the balcony, and couldn't find a way to look at them from underneath. I'm curious too. I hope the wisdom of Steemit comes to the fore :-)
thanks for the nice post. i have no idea what that is, but looks very interesting.
Thank you, @steamit2. Glad you found it interesting.
Pot sizes: 150mm
Botanical name:Schefflera Actinophylla
Growing height:15M
Origin:Australia
Position/Light:In direct sunlight
Soil conditions:Well drained
The umbrella tree is an ornamental and fast growing native to northern Queensland and is known to attract birds due to the unique look of the deep green leaf groups
source
Thank you, @abdulmanan.
Nice pictures.
Thank you, @florian-glechner :-)
🙄never seen these kind of trees 🤔
When you're revealing name ? Can't guess 😋
When I find out what they are, I'll post the answer, @saimegh! We need something like Google Goggles to tell us what kind of tree it is. Thanks for stopping in 😊😊
Haha interesting 😀 Google Googles 👏
We used to use Google Goggles to search for stuff - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Goggles. It typically doesn't work that well on flora and fauna. 😉😉
So I posted my article on Facebook, and within minutes a friend from primary school identified it! It's an umbrella tree, scientific name schefflera actinophylla. Turns out it's not African at all. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schefflera_actinophylla
Detective 😍👏
Incurably curious 😜