THE TREE

My tree is a palm tree, one of the many we find in Brazil, but this particular one is the Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, or Areca bambu as it is most commonly known here in Brazil. It is a perennial angiosperm plant, originally from Madagascar. It is fast-growing, and grows best under partial or total sunlight.
The tree I chose is about 3 to 3.5 m tall, and has 8 parallel trunks that sprout out of the same root structure, whith a few other smaller trunks starting to grow. I can tell that there is a different rate of growth between trunks, since there are taller ones and shorter ones. Also, the tree grows in such a way that the leaves are coming out of a spike that sits on the very top of the tree. It is the greenest, and the newest leaves are growing out of there. As the leaves get old, they become gradually more yellow, then orange, and finally they become reddish brown and fall off. The falling generates some "scar tissue", which creates a ring on the palm's trunk. This causes the tree to grow away from the older scar tissues. When one pulls off a leaf it is noticeable that the inside of the leaf, where it touches the trunk, has a waxy sort of covering. This has the purpose of  keeping the water inside the plant, so that it does not dehydrate. Another sort of covering can be seen in the trunk and some leaves, where they have a white, furry substance growing. It also has a series of leaves that sprout out of the trunk, one tree having up to 20 leaves growing at the same time. It serves to keep the water in as well. It propagates with seeds, which it sheds every 2-6 weeks, or through the division of the root structure.
My palm sits right in front of the drama room, in front of the gymnasium.
I chose this plant because palm trees in general remind me of going to the beach, a thing I love doing. Also, I like this particular type of palm tree because my dad planted a palm like that one to celebrate my birth, so I am obviously drawn to this tree.

This tree does not have any change of color or structure, therefore I expect that on the next 9-21 months it will continue growing, until it reaches its maximum height (its species can get up to 9 meters tall!) and then it will continue the same. However, the leaves will continue falling, generating the scar tissue, and the trunk will eventually enlarge, but no greater scale changes will be seen. Also, the root structure will have more palm tree trunks growing out of it if it is allowed to grow.
I noticed small things on this plant that I had not seen at first after observing it for about 20-30 minutes. Firstly, the waxy inside of the plant's leaves, the whitish covering on the trunk, the fact that the fibers are clear and distinct in the trunk and leaves, the fact that the leaves become yellowish where it has more exposed contact with sunlight, and the fact that the trunk is not entirely cylindrical, but actually has a difference in its diameter, and is thicker in some places and thinner in others.
So this is it for my first "blogging the tree", tune in later this week for more!