Today at Como: Camel Thorn Tree - "Acacia erioloba"

Beautiful sunny day today with zero chance of rain. On my walk past the outdoor flamingo exhibit, occupied by a diversity of beautiful birds, I note many family groups walking around outside. Inside the Conservatory, however, as a testament to the attraction of most humans to sunshine, only a few souls can be seen. While cheery to have bright sunshine, the greenhouse heating effect in the Conservatory can mute that happy cheeriness. Perhaps the heat build-up in the Conservatory is sending some folks outside.

 

Sunken Garden

The Sunken Garden is looking particularly beautiful!

Inside the North Garden, many of the usual fruits can be seen on the long term greenery residents: star fruit, jack fruit, papaya, limes, oranges, guava, noni, Barbados cherry, cacao and others. I'm pleased to see some new plants that the staff have added, for example "Homalomena Emerald Gerr" and "Aji Chirel."

The Plant of the Day located in the North Garden is the Camel Thorn tree - "Acacia erioloba", and is also known as "Acacia giraffae" or Giraffe Thorn. This tree is a well known species in the Kalahari plains of such countries as Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. They grow as tall as 18 meters tall and have a large spreading canopy that produces food for animals, shade and animal shelter. 

Camel Thorn Tree - Note the thorns that
animals have to eat around.

In addition to benefiting wildlife, this tree provides useful and economic resources to people. For example, the dark, hard, insect-resistant wood is used for lumber, and is considered excellent for fuel and cooking purposes.

Abundant, nutritious pods develop from pollinated flowers and are sometimes used by local people to make hot coffee-like drinks, porridge, or to use as highly nutritional fodder for cattle.

Parts of the camel thorn tree have been used medicinely to treat diarrhea, coughs, colds, tuberculosis and nose-bleeds.

Camel thorn has protected status in South Africa.

For more information:

https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=125870

https://www.gbif.org/species/2980134

https://www.botswanaflora.com/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=125870

http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/plants/fabaceae/acacia/acacia_erioloba.htm

http://eol.org/pages/678840/overview

Splashes of Color

Helping to reduce our current drought conditions while providing a cool and relaxing summer day, a mild but steady rain falls gently and silently outside. The increased relative humidity is undoubtedly greatly appreciated by the tropical plants in the conservatory. As a southern transplant, I am very appreciative of experiencing actual humidity in Minnesota!

Oriental Lily

With a large number of school groups, today’s visitor numbers are high and steady throughout the afternoon. Providing me the opportunity to observe human nature, I can easily see that the crowds around the North Garden koi pond are kids of all ages. Everyone likes to look at the koi! I often think that there are not enough places to sit around the North Garden koi pond. A relaxing serene spot like this would be a truly wonderful winter escape.

Every volunteer day, I enjoy searching the various plants to see what fruits are still out and what new ones have shown up. Today, I see new star fruit, jack fruit and cacao pods that I didn’t see last week. There are still bananas growing in the back on a blood banana plant. Too bad they are hidden so visitors can’t see them. They give me the chance, however, to interact with visitors in such a way that I can show them something that they otherwise would not have seen on their own.

Today I am particularly enamored by the oriental lily in the Sunken Garden and a beautiful yellow plant that staff have added inside the North Garden. Accomplishing the gardeners’ goal of placing such colorful beauties throughout the gardens, they provide a bright splash of color and beauty on this overcast and dreary day.

Bananas and More Bamboo in the North Garden

Very crowded today with numerous elementary school groups and groups of families visiting and enjoying the beautiful conservatory. I’ve rarely heard the conservatory as noisy as I have today. What a pleasure to see and hear the delight and wonderment in our visitors.  

Red Ginger Flower

Ever curious about new developments in the plants, my slow wander through the conservatory produced not only updated information on flowering and fruiting plants, but also a new interesting find - I found some blood bananas hanging on a banana plant in the back of the North Garden.

Blood Bananas

Also in the back of the North Garden, the red ginger plant continues producing a handful of gorgeous red flowers in various stages of production. The photo that I've posted of these, of course, does not show the actual wonderment of the flower. Come in and visit with us to see them for yourself!

Another new North Garden delight is the development of a new bamboo stalk. These grow very quickly, so within days, the height of this stalk will triple.

New Bamboo Stalk

The Sunken Garden remains a beautifully visual and sweetly aromatic treat. I can't let a volunteer day go by without visiting this visual and aromatic delight! 

Flowers in the Sunken Garde

Charming Discoveries

Just from traveling to Como and noticing the small amount of perspiration sitting above my upper lip, I realized that today’s volunteer time would be a relatively sweaty one.

Entrance to Conservatory

And true enough, upon entering the forum entrance to the Fern Room, I felt the watery texture of the air beginning to exhibit itself as body sweat. A symptom of my currently busy workload, I sadly realized that I had left my water bottle at home and that I'd be spending much time near the indoor water fountains.

Brightening my sweaty thoughts were the large streams of smiling and laughing guests walking through the conservatory. Undaunted by the steamy environment, a large number of guests walked about, looking closely at the plant species, reading their signage, pointing at cool plant attributes and smiling at seeing and learning about our plant world.

Papaya Flowers

Patron smiles of wonderment always brighten my day whether from self-discovery or from when I've pointed out interesting but usually not obvious plant features. Today, several groups were very excited to see the growing pineapple and the Buddha's Hand tree fruit.  

Pineapple

Both are indeed charming discoveries. I brought the intricate beauty of the papaya, cotton and pomegranate flowers to their attention. One of Mother Nature's beautiful ways of plant reproduction! 

The Return. Plant of the Day: The Buddha's Hand Tree, "Citrus medica"

Entrance to Fern Room

After a short hiatus, I have returned to my volunteer work at the beautiful and tranquil indoor Como Conservatory. Although spring has sprung in the Twin Cities, today’s outdoor temperatures are quite cool, almost warranting a need to wear pants and/or a jacket. 

Thankfully, upon deciding to defiantly welcome and embrace spring with shorts and my comfortable Como volunteer polo shirt, the indoor conservatory air is toasty warm with a high level of humidity - just right for this southern transplant.

Feeling more like I’ve been gone six years rather than six months, as I look around, I notice that much is the same but with some subtle differences. For example, the mango tree in the North Garden, is - poof - gone. The economically important cotton plant has been moved to a different area of the North Garden.

Cotton Plant Flower 

Buddha's Hand Fruit

The Palm Dome and Fern rooms look mostly unchanged although I can see that a plant here and there has been pruned.

With a quiet sense of physical and mental relaxation, I walk around with a wonderous sense of not only having returned to this tropical garden, but also of making an excellent decision to not stopping this volunteer work entirely.

The Plant of the Day, the Buddha's Hand tree - Citrus medica, for the first time that I’ve ever seen, has three amazingly hand-like structured fruits growing on it. This tree looks more like a then shrub than a tree. It is sold in many warm locations as an ornamental tree. The fruit are touted as being a cornerstone of conversation due to its unusual structure.

The Buddha's Hand fruit can be used in many different ways. Like other fruits, this one can be used in creating delicious drinks. Because the fruit is not bitter, it can be added to salads or other foods to boost taste. The fruit also has a fragrant aroma and can be used indoors as an air freshner. This fruit has been used to make jam in Iran and Pakistan. In South India, has been used in pickles and preserves. In Korea, it has been used to make tea to aid with coughing, relieve hangovers and to help with indigestion.

The Buddha’s Hand variety occurs naturally in China and the Far East. The fruit has been used as an offering in Buddhist temples.

For More Information:

http://eol.org/pages/582203/overview

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29594287

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/citrus-medica

http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/52/6/823.short

https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/citron.html