Interesting Scientific Articles on Palm Metabolism

[PalmsInBaltimore]

When I was cleaning some seeds I ordered, I started thinking about how sugary palms are. Heat-loving palms especially are highly productive sugar factories. Dates, coconuts, palm sugar, berries -- there is a lot of nutrient activity going on in these plants. 

That got me googling things, of course, which led me to some interesting studies about nutrient transport in palms. One is from 1966, the other from 2015. They are scientific articles and a little bit technical, but I don't think they are too complex for a non-biologist to get the sense of what is being said. 

We all know the leaves photosynthesize and the roots draw up water and minerals from the ground, but I did not realize how many plants besides tuberous ones store starches in their root systems and trunks, which are then mobilized as needed to other parts of the plant for growth. The concept of the carbohydrate source/sink ratio is very interesting as well for all of us who obsess and fixate on the development and wellbeing of our palms. I definitely learned a lot about nutrient transport. 

I mean, it's effing wild to me that if you beat and cut the inflorescence of Arenga pinnata, it turns into a syphon of sugar water that will gush out "2.5 kg sugar per day for at least 135 days from a single tapping period." From one plant. Insane.

here are the article:

Translocation of Water and Nutrients in Palms:

https://palms.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/v10n4p105-114.pdf

Some aspects of carbohydrate physiology in sugar palms:

https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-javs/papers/vol8-issue8/Version-2/C08821320.pdf