“A species of bamboo found all over Japan – Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis – is about to flower for the first time in 120 years, and then die.”
https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/plants/bamboo-flowering-die/
@gregeganSF I wonder if there's a cross-pollination event required for the seeds to be fertile. I'm sure that's been covered by the scientists, but if the thing was introduced from China, do the Chinese not know the answer? Or is the bamboo the result of a single introduction which has spread, hence the rigid synchronisation? All very interesting.
I'm also curious about the synchronization mechanism. The mention of a localized flowering in the paper (which I haven't yet read apart from the abstract) seems to suggest that it's not independent for each plant (so either involves communication or synchronization on some external factor).
@robryk @gregeganSF hmm, how local? I read that as "a few plants" hence the question about fertilisation. Yeah, I probably need to read the paper!