#109-365 Foreign

This is a native Australian Tree called a Black Bean Tree, or A Moreton Bay Chestnut. ( for those that like follow up this site has so much information - which I hope to paraphrase in part below). Explanation on the theme, I am assuming that not many of you have seen this flower before, hence foreign to you. Like I have stated before, until this Challenge, I had most probably seen but never enquired about flowers or plants in the world around me now I do, so, Foreign to my knowledge base.

This bloom is one of quite a number I shot (The best in MHO) and the actual flower was about 15-20 feet above my head, and I had to use the zoom lens to get a good shot of it, see the link above to get an idea of it's size, but it is big. I was attracted by the colour primarily and had to ask what it was, the name Black Bean tree was provided by a guy building a fence nearby, so you see I go straight to knowledgeable sources. He also commented that the native bird life, Lorikeets included absolutely swarm the tree.

Back home, straight onto google (The only reason not to want to live in the past) where I read a lot of confusing facts, for insance, although I found this tree growing in a suburban street, I found out that in our rainforests it grows up to 40 or so metres (Over 120 feet). Then I read that a lot of people were using it as an indoor plant, which just seems silly to me, unless people have really large houses, or maybe the Doctor's Tardis is real. They recommended not having them within 30 feet of house foundations or water sources such as drains swimming pools etc, but that would be normal for such big trees.

I wasn't surprised to find out that the inigenous Australians use the nuts (following extensive processing to remove toxins) in their cooking because Aborigines really understand "Bush Tucker" The real Eureka moment came for me when I read that the toxins that the Aborigines work so hard to remove, have been found to have high to very high, Anti HIV and Anti Cancer properties. The plant it self can be fatal to livestock that graze upon the foliage or seed pods, but not many residents of Redcliffe have livestock in their backyards, so that isn't much of a problem here.

Apparently the timber of this tree is now valuable and sought after, but it comes with a warning to, the Queensland government provides the following warning:

If eaten, the seeds can cause severe diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain and dizziness. The sawdust can cause dermatitis, eczema and nasal irritation.

Toxicity Category: 2,3,4
Warning: Seek urgent medical attention for all ingestions.

I am always fascinated when I find things I wasn't expecting and this is just another example of how this Challenge has caused us all to grow, in one way or another.