Photos of 2021
Traditionally this issue, the final issue of 2021, is devoted to favorite palm photo-graphs, all from the calendar year 2021.
We’re leading off with a species that is en-amored by this editor: Neoveitchia storkii. Photo by Mike Street.
New Research of Interest
New work published in the journal Scientific Reports by Peter Sterken looks at ways of assessing the risk of large palms breaking or uprooting in high winds. Sterken presents a summary of methods used to assess stem integrity and risk of failure, finding little evidence that the older methods can reliably predict palm stem failure. Drawing on the fields of engineering and materials science, Sterken models the palm stem as a viscoelastic, hollow cylinder that is prone to buckling, localization, and kinking, as well as fatigue, shear, splitting, and cracking. The article is open access and can be downloaded from the link below.