Page 10 - Tropic Magazine Issue 223

TROPIC • UP FRONT

In Season

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EXPLORE
Tropic’s local guide to the best of leaf stalk that thinks it’s a leaf. Confused? contribution to the local environment
If you take a close look at one of these
indeed. Add the fact that wattles are
nature this April and May. ‘not-leaves’ you’ll notice that there is no excellent carbon sequesterers, and you
central vein, but a number of parallel ones have to admit that they are amazing.
Words: Nicky Horstmann
instead. Definitely not a leaf!
Whilst there are many ways of
The end of the Wet season is RED-TAILED VISITORS
approaching… can we sit back and expect differentiating between these two species Birds
months of perfect tropical weather? Or of black wattles, the easiest is to wait until
remain on the rollercoaster of hot-and- they produce pods next spring. The ear Have you ever noticed that small
flock of Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoos
steamy followed by hot-and-wet for a leaf’s pods start out flat and then twist (Calyptorhynchus banksii macrorhynchus)
little longer? Will the weird behaviours into spiral shapes as they mature, whereas
exhibited by our flora and fauna over the the sally’s pod start out tightly coiled and that like to perch on the street lights
outside Cazaly’s? One of our larger
last few months continue? In particular, remain that way. I should mention that
will our laundry frog still seek a cooling neither of these species produce the highly parrots, these magnificent birds wing
their way effortlessly overhead in search
night time swim in our toilet? Life in the prized culinary wattle seed. of some tasty treats (perhaps even wattle
tropics is not as simple as it seems… You will generally find these trees growing
and thriving in areas with poorer soil seeds) and aren’t shy about announcing
as acacias are legumes and their roots their presence with their repetitious
develop nodules containing bacteria that metallic ‘kreee kreee’ call. The male of
can harvest atmospheric nitrogen for the this species has the really red tail, while
soil. Once fixed in the soil, the nitrogen the females and teenagers have a barred
compounds are also shared with some orange effect on theirs along with an all
of the surrounding plants. At the same over sprinkling of yellow speckles. More
time, the extensive root systems help often found in drier country, these very
stabilise the surrounding soil, reducing welcome visitors never fail to bring a
and/or preventing erosion. Not a bad smile to my face.
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SIGNATURE VARIETY delights of a locally-grown pomelo
Trees RUSTY’S MARKETS (pummelo). Rusty’s will present
There’s no doubt one of Australia’s Pomelo plunge plenty of opportunities to do so as
signature tree varieties is the wattle or If you haven’t yet taken the plunge, this ancient citrus variety comes
Acacia. Our continent is home to around now is the time to dive into the into season. Don’t be deceived
1000 species and wattle forests are the by their grapefruit-on-steroids
second most common forest in this appearance - pomelos are generally
vast land. A number of locally occurring sweeter. Some types are drier and
species will start flowering over the next crunchy, while others are juicier.
couple of months and, while we take Some have pink flesh, some have
the time to appreciate their beauty, we white. All you need is a little time,
should also remind ourselves of the other a sharp knife and a chopping board
contributions these trees make. to remove all the skin, pith and
Two such species are both commonly membranes. Store the liberated fruit
known as Black Wattles. One is Acacia in the fridge and, voila, you have a
auriculiformis or the Ear Leaf (or ear pod) healthy and refreshing snack.
acacia. The other is Acacia mangium or
the Broadleaved Salwood, sometimes
shortened to the Sally Wattle. Both have 1. Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo
cream to yellow spike-shaped, fragrant (Calyptorhynchus banksii)
2. Ear Leaf acacia ( Acacia auriculiformis)
flowers as well as the typical wattle leaf
that’s not a leaf but actually an enlarged

10 • Tropic • Issue 23