Pisonia grandis, the grand devil's-claws,
Description
The tree has broad, thin leaves, smooth bark and bears clusters of green sweet-smelling
that mature into sticky barbed
.
Seed dispersal occurs when seeds stick to bird feathers. Vegetative reproduction frequently results when fallen branches sprout or develop into new trees.
Distribution
Pisonia trees are distributed throughout the
coral of the
Indian Ocean and
. The species often dominates mature coral cay
vegetation, growing in dense, thick strands up to tall.
Pisonia wood is rather weak and soft and decays rapidly when the trees fall.
Pisonia forests are a common nesting site for . One of the best remaining Pisonia forests can be found on Palmyra Atoll.
St. Pierre Island, Farquhar Group, was once covered by a Pisonia grandis forest. This forest disappeared after guano mining between 1906 and 1972. The natural vegetation was destroyed in order to scrape the guano and the island's landscape became barren.[ (1961): Notes on some of the Seychelles Islands, Indian Ocean. Atoll Research Bulletin 83: 1-10. PDF fulltext ]
Uses
The leaves are traditionally used as a
leaf vegetable in some countries.
[ Capricornia Cuisine: Bush Tucker in Central Queensland] They were part of the traditional Maldivian cuisine in dishes such as
mas huni.
[Xavier Romero-Frias, The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom, Barcelona 1999, ]
In mythology
The flower is known as the ꦮꦶꦗꦪꦏꦸꦱꦸꦩ
wijayakusuma ('victorious flower') in Javanese; a population found on a rock not far from
Nusa Kambangan off
Java is the subject of a legend where a prince of Mataram must be able to procure a flower from this islet as a measure of strength and proof of legitimacy.
External links
