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Articles Pindan Post 88 Pindan Post No 88686 words The early summer thunderstorms that benefit Thangoo, Dampier Downs and Roebuck Plains Stations rarely reach Broome until December or January. This year was a slight exception as last week we were delighted to have 15 or so millimetres fall in town. The horticultural areas on Broome Road past the Beagle Bay turn-off do receive rain early in most ‘wets’ and this year the burnt out bush surrounding these areas are now flush with green growth. Closer to Derby, herbs are already beginning to flower and grasses are half a metre high already. Many storms have gone through the central Dampier Peninsular including Kilto and Country Downs Stations and this hopefully is going to be a good ‘wet’ like the last. In the plant world the Gubinge in full flower heralds the season of plenty, when ripe fruit becomes available from December along with many other vine forest shrubs and trees. The many deciduous trees throughout the Kimberley region are starting to grow new leaves such as the Pindan Walnut, Terminalia cunninghamii, soon after flowering. Most Terminalias are deciduous or semi-deciduous and are mostly handsome trees. Of the 10 or so species in the Kimberley, 5 occur in the vicinity of Broome as well as some hybrids like the Red Gubinge. Terminalia petiolaris, the Marool or Blackberry tree can be seen on many Broome streets with some large shady specimens in Bedford Park. This species crossed with the Gubinge to give us the Red Gubinge, a large tree of which can be found on a walk trail in Minyirr Coastal Park near Gubinge Road. In the East Kimberley, the Nutwood, Terminalia arostrata, is a large and close relative of the local Pindan Walnut with a weeping habit and smaller fruits. Another very large spreading tree in this genus is Terminalia microcarpa with smaller fruit similar to the Marool and Gubinge. This species is found in mound springs in King Sound and also near Cambridge Gulf in the East Kimberley. Other fully deciduous trees of the tropics also include the Kapok Bush, Cochlospermum fraseri. Leafless for several months, this small tree resembles young Boabs, also deciduous, but for the last 6 months large bright yellow flowers are clustered in racemes along branches, developing into large oval fruits, green changing to brown and black filled with kidney-shaped seeds embedded in kapok fibre and distributed by the wind when the fruits ripen and split. The bark of this species is used to make string or rope and dried stems were used as firesticks. The roots of young trees can be roasted and eaten and the flower petals can be eaten raw. Often a spindly shrub, this species can reach 5 or 6 metres and is quite spectacular when in flower in numbers. They are very common in the Central Kimberley Tablelands region and along rocky slopes of many West Kimberley ranges and rocky hills. The best examples are trees found along the road to Mornington and in the King Leopold Range. They are also found on islands and the northern Dampier Peninsular. Commonly found with them is the most prolific Kimberley Paperbark, Melaleuca minutifolia, the scientific name alluding to small leaves. This is a 5 metre tall and spreading paperbark tree, very showy when in full flower and widespread in the Central Kimberley. This species is found in some local gardens and is an outstanding species for water-wise gardening as it grows well on rocky slopes, sandy or clay soils, and can handle periodic flooding as well as long dry periods. A much rarer (in the Kimberley) Paperbark is the River Tea-tree or Black Tea Tree, Melaleuca bracteata, a dark-trunk species found on some small watercourses in the Central and Eastern Kimberley. Flowering profusely with white bottlebrush flowers in October and November, this species has been cultivated in gardens across Australia with a few bred varieties such as “Golden Gem”. The Kimberley specimens grow to 6 metres but can have a spread from multiple trunks to 15 metres. The leaves are wonderfully aromatic and some are growing in Broome near Chinatown and the new Tourist Bureau. 10/11 |
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