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Jigal Tree ( Kimberley Bauhinia)
Bauhinia cunninghamii
-17.3273, 123.65
Field Notes
Description:
Red flowers and a rough dark grey bark. Regularly up to 6 metres but can grow to 12m. Ants and bees frequent the tress for nectar. Lives grow in pairs back to back. The pods are red and turn brown as they age and can grow 25-30 cms in length. Trees drop their leaves during the dry season.
Habitat:
Kimberley Northern Australia
Notes:
Kimberley Aboriginal people are known to suck the sweet nectar from the flowers and eat the sweet gum. The wood is smokeless and often used for cooking and branches are used to make windbreaks! The Jigal is so called because its leaves face back to back as in the term Jigal, used to describe the (avoidance) relationship between son-in-law and mother-in-law in Kimberley Aboriginal culture. According to Aboriginal Law, mother-in-law and son-in-law must not directly face each other.
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