Guard Duty

[Suelbiz]

Wonderful shot and I LOVE the title, Brad. :-)

[Hillary Torrey]

What a neat looking...well um...thing... Great title as well!

[Denise]

This is so exotic. Very cool flower and fun title.

[The Blue Gnu]

Wow that's beautiful - doesn't look like flora at all but more like material and quilting - so lush and squishy and soft.

[robinwarner]

great shot...love this so intriguing

[Dorrena Ortega]

Wow!!! Great texture in this photo. Awesome shot!

[Aarti krishnakumar]

wow, intersting, what is this?

[Constance Brinkley]

Great caption and fantastic shot. Amazing ...

[kammy]

so cool! very interesting!

[stephanie dp]

wowie - strange and otherworldly.

[Kerri]

Really cool

[Yoella Offir]

It really looks llike they are garding. Intersting flower and great capture

[Laerke Thorndal]

That is one freaky flower - it looks like it belongs underwater :)

[bernadette mcelligott]

I thought it was underwater, a sea anomone??? what is it.

[Bill Dodsworth]

Cool capture!

[Brad Johnson]

@suelbiz47 @ididntdoit87 @denisedaly @thebluegnu @robinwarner @dmortega @aaroo4 @seattle @kammy @stepheesue @kerristephens @yoelao @lily @cookie123 @bill_d

Thank you for you comments, friends. It's some sort of ornamental palm-type shrub. I'm guessing @hinhoutbay or @robv may know what it is...

[Brad Johnson]

A quick search, and I turned up cycas revoluta - the sago palm.

[hellcat]

Wow! I would have thought it was an underwater plant of some sort and not a palm. Very cool to see.

[Araminta]

Wow what an exotic plant! Great shot

[Meagan Aaron]

That think looks like it could eat you!

[Carolyn White]

It's very beautiful! It reminds me of the pods in Alien. :0)

[Robert Velten]

They are called palms because of the appearance of the fronds, they are most closely related to pines and other Gymnosperms. That center structure is a male cone, the plants are dioecious meaning male and female fruiting structures are on different plants. Uber cool shot! The male cones produce pollen which may be wind born or carried by insects to the female cone. @hellcat @aaroo4 @denisedaly @ididntdoit87
Great title indeed!

[cglist]

So unusual - neat find!

[Rick Schies]

That is quite fantastic.

[Bill Hunt]

Looks like it's under water! Ca is sooooooo full of cool things!

[Rudi Teruel]

awesome subject... looks quite interesting.... never seen one before.... cool cool shot, brad....

[Kirsty .P]

What a beauty, wonderful pic!!

[Henriette Sparkes]

That is a beauty!! Love your title too :-) We call them Cycads...Rob Velten is right, it's part of the Gymnosperm Family.

[Dragonfly Explorer ( Rhoiz )]

Fantastic texture and composition! love it!

[Lesley Barber]

Gorgeous shot,Brad.

[Alecio]

Oh man this is crazy cool, i thought it was some creature from the ocean when I first looked at it.

[Ellen E]

really cool! what an interesting plant

[Harsh Brown]

awesome capture!

[FaerieMoon]

Audrey II. Way cool plant

[Netkonnexion]

Wonderful. Love the white egg-like centre.

[Britt Gow]

Fabulous photo! @robv Thanks for the identification. I love a plant portrait, and this is very unusual.

[Pat Pabst]

Totally awesome!