Life in the semi-tropics

Seeing all the palm trees in Tampa last week reminded me that I've been collecting shots of these very photogenic trees around town here. Perhaps I have enough now for a short post showcasing this lovely, evocative vegetation.

The photo on the left is one of the Tampa collection, but I thought it was blog-worthy as much for the neat little salamander or whatever on the building as the shapely palm in the foreground.

We don't have as many of the really, really tall specimens that Tampa does, but I did see the one at the right on a bike ride around my neighborhood recently. I'm lousy at estimating heights, but, let's just say it's pretty tall.

We've got some good examples of the lower-to-the-ground varieties around campus, making for some nice photo ops:

Looking through the arches on the south side of the Library

An attractive grouping on the side of St. Louis Hall

I'll continue to keep on the lookout for neat palm trees to snap and might get enough pix for a follow-up post later.

However, I doubt if I'll be able to come up with palm tree photos any better than those we took in Hawaii. Here's a teaser:

For more information on types of palms, etc.—that is, of you want to get beyond the extent of my knowledge of them: short vs. tall—of course they have their own society (the International Palm Society) and this Wikipedia article is chock-full of what looks like good scientific info.