# General > Member's Lounge > Nature and Conservation >  Once in a Lifetime - flowering of the Corypha umbraculifera

## hwchoy

Two 79 years old Talipot palms _Corypha umbraculifera_ in the Singapore Botanical Gardens’ Palm Valley is putting up their Once-in-a-Lifetime flowering.

The inflorescense has already emerged and will continue to bloom throughout December, afterwhich the palms will die.

Go and experience the spectacle for yourself (the palms are about 50ft tall without the blooms), but as usual here’s some pics to entease…

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## kuching

wah!Amazing!!!

I never thought u r a palm tree lover!

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## hwchoy

google my name, you will find even more surprises  :Wink:

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## ranmasatome

ya ya!! saw this the other day....it was pretty cool...maybe go see again next week..heehee..

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## Yisheng

It is a beauty!

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## TanVincent

check here , here, here and here 

multi-interest fella.... :P

vincent

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## hwchoy

whew! for a moment I thought you found all my gerfren pix  :Razz: 

so they finally updated my FB entry.

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## hwchoy

after more than a year, the fruits are finally being shed…

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## Justikanz

Pretty fruit... So, will the palm tree actually die after that??  :Huh?:

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## hwchoy

already mostly dead.

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## Justikanz

Serious? They grow to 79 years old, flower and die? What a loser for a tree...  :Opps:  I mean, trees' lifespan are supposed to be _almost_ eternal, right?...  :Huh?:  That's quite sad...

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## hwchoy

why!? you grow to 30 years old, have 3 kids, then die when you're 70. something like that. no?

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## hwchoy

actually some palms are terminal flowering, that means the flower spike grows from the terminal apex, after which there can be no more leaves. quite a few palms do that.

where do you think you get your sago huh? look up _Metroxylon sagu_.

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## Justikanz

Was always under the impression that trees can last almost forever, unless it was killed by lightning, lack of water or sickness or other human-induced causes... Never thought a big tree can die off after flowering... 

Sago? Isn't that from the Sago tree bark?  :Opps:

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## hwchoy

> Was always under the impression that trees can last almost forever, unless it was killed by lightning, lack of water or sickness or other human-induced causes... Never thought a big tree can die off after flowering... 
> 
> Sago? Isn't that from the Sago tree bark?


well different folks different streak I guess.

sago, like I said, look up _Metroxylong sagu_. there use to be a clump at the main entrance of SBG, not sure still there anot. oh its the sago palm lah, not tree. anyway also not from the bark  :Grin: s

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## Justikanz

Not from bark?? Ehh... I thought I saw that in a documentary... Interesting...

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## CacaManiac

wow this is an amazing piece of info... didn't know that palm could flower

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## hwchoy

> wow this is an amazing piece of info... didn't know that palm could flower


wah lao, ever heard of toddy? never eaten attap chee? what about coconut?  :Huh?:

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## hwchoy

> Not from bark?? Ehh... I thought I saw that in a documentary... Interesting...


not the bark, from the pith, scrape out the pith from the chopped off trunk.

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## mervin

> wah lao, ever heard of toddy? never eaten attap chee? what about coconut?



hahahaha !!!! u damm mean leh. 
no everyone is so well informed as you mah !  :Kiss:

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## hwchoy

never mind lah. I saw his pix before. strapping young man can take it lah. heehee. SAF train one.

actually I was smiling to myself when I type the coconut bit. I mean quite hilarious right? eh CacaManiac, no hard-feelings hor? I blanjah you coconut drink lah

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## |squee|

Sad.. I googled my name and only 1 result came out.

That's a nice fruit! I suppose the Gardens are replanting it?

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## CacaManiac

ha ha dude what i meant was that i did'nt know 'that' particular palm could flower.
we see that kind in many places in singapore right

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## hwchoy

> ha ha dude what i meant was that i did'nt know 'that' particular palm could flower.
> we see that kind in many places in singapore right



I don't think there is too many _C. umbraculifera_ being planted. Partly they grow rather tall. those fan palms you see with big leaves, e.g. along the centre divider of Changi Airport Boulevard, those are different, they also bear fruit cluster rather than a terminal spike.

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## CacaManiac

they do look similar .. apart from the fruit cluster

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## hwchoy

The coco-de-mer _Lodoicea maldivica_ also has similar large fan leaves, but also has non-terminal inflorescense.

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