One of these trees below has been changed by humans – see if you can guess which. I don’t know why the ‘experts’ struggle to recognise the difference between cultural & natural epiphytes … but the pictures paint a thousand words. Pictures also take up more website data, unfortunately so Im writing more blogs now.
Im going to share an email exchange Ive had recently with a retired botanist I will refer to as Bill, who I was first in contact with 3 years ago. If I see something interesting in my newsfeed re eucalypts or CMTs, I will try to contact the quoted ‘expert ‘.I’m a farmer not an academic so don’t understand how some Dr’s & Prof’s in this field get more in the media exposure than others. I believe in persuading the cynics not causing public embarrassment to old boffins who are just working their trade in a changing world. Let’s just say 3 years ago Bill the botanist came across as something of a culture change sceptic but that was true of all botanists, arborists, archaeologists, ecologists, anthropologists at that time (bar a handful – Silcock, Hopper & Gammage). So here is Bill’s reply 3 years ago when I first sent him some TinT pics & asked his opinion.
Thank you for your great email and images. I am aware of some but not all of your insights. I do know that some trees can grow inside others. Often it is a great environment as the inside is full of dead and decaying matter and it can hold water – almost like a natural potting medium. It is an old horticultural trick to grow inside an old stump as it gives you instant height.
(pics below from dead CMTs west of walgett)
In relation to the 50/50 tree, I am aware of many such trees of different species that have occurred naturally or have been deliberately planted together; often in the same hole. In the few that we have been able to investigate, the trees are actually not connected and retain their individuality. They are growing close, sometimes around each other, but they do not fuse. This may not be the case for the same species, where fusion may be possible.
(pics sent to Bill the botanist 3 years ago of the 50:50 tree in the sunken sanctuary)
I contacted Bill again recently & below is our latest email exchange where he seems to feel Ive set him up in some way?
Hello Jane,
I well remember your earlier email, about Tints. I have seen many of these myself as I think I mentioned in my last response; The ones that come easiest to mind are
- Native beech – often in tree fern crowns
- White cedar seems to grow in and on other trees commonly
- Many species in palm crowns
- Several eucalypt species growing in branch unions and hollows of various native species
- Moreton Bay Fig growing in and on many native trees
- In logged forests several species such as messmate, and various peppermint species growing in the hollow stumps
- The hollow stumps are an ideal place for germination and establishment in many ecosystems
Before I retired, I would tell my students that this may seem a precarious way to establish, but in many tough ecosystems it is effective and works well. I know of botanists, who like me keep informal records of these occurrences, but I do not know anyone who has a research interest. I can only suggest that you contact the Melbourne and Sydney Botanic Gardens/Herbaria. As you know, I am based in Melbourne and I am unlikely to be travelling in your part of the country in the near future. I will of course refer people to your website, and will do all I can to publicize them, but it is not easy to get this sort of work published. However, I will do what I can.
I replied to Bill immediately with the links to the Aust. Journal of Botany paper & the other articles I had published in various journals as well.
- https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2023.2286392
- https://doi.org/10.1071/BT23053
- Jane P. What the Ancestors Knew and the Limits of European Nomenclature. JOJ Wildl Biodivers. 2024: 5(2): 555659. DOI: 10.19080/JOJWB.2024.05.555659
Thanks for getting back Bill – must be 3 years at least since we were last in contact? I don’t know if you read Jen Silcock’s paper in the Aust Journal of Botany in 2024 or any of the articles Ive published online since then but these TinTs are not accidental epiphytes. I have included links if you are interested. There are a few naturally occurring foreign epiphytes (box thorn, lantern bush prickly pear) here but they seem to be short lived given our hot dry semi arid climate (400-450 mls Ave rainfall & 35 C Ave summer day temps) The TinTs are clustered around the old Aboriginal camps in association with scarred & ringtrees or along the known songlines. Accidental epiphytes are randomly distributed in wet sclerophyll forest in high rainfall & humid coastal environments. None of the species you’ve mentioned grow west of Walgett except in gardens – cedars, palms – and if you don’t mind me saying so, a Melbournians’ idea of a tough ecosystem would be different than mine. This wilga in box near Fords bridge below (west of Bourke) has it tough as does the rosewood in box south of Charleville on a sandridge above a permanent waterhole with old fireplaces & artefacts. TinTs are often found around homesteads & old sheep yards because this is where the water was.
(pics sent to me from Sandra Winsor (Fords bridge wilga in box) & Jen Silcock (Charleville boonery/ rosewood in box)
The next photo is the 3 in 1 tree here that is sadly now just an ordinary boobialla in box as the mallee riceflower has recently died. If you seriously think the 3in1 tree is a result of natural circumstance you will one day be known as a “culture denier”.
The reason no one has really seen them around here before is no one was out looking. The last 2 pics of a currant/warrior bush in box TinT I took today while chasing dorpers through the sandhills. The first photo is taken looking south & looks like a few bimblebox with a currant bush nearby. The next pic taken from the west shows where the currant/ warrior bush is actually living!
If you are not incapacitated Greg, you really should come & see them before I leave here. Prof. Steve Hopper has been to see the CMTs here as well as Bill Gammage + other farmers & people of Indig. heritage. All the best, Jane
So in reply, Bill seems to take offence at the “culture denier” reference which I thought was pretty clever as one day those academics who have ignored the TinTs will be on the wrong side of history like climate deniers are now. Bill sends what can only be described as an extreme virtue signaling type email that leaves me shaking my head.
I am well aware they are not accidental epiphytes. My point was that it is a very effective means of establishment that indigenous people understood.
I have taught students for over 40 years about the sophisticated land, ecological and plant management practices of indigenous people including, fire management, cool burns, weed control and management of forbs and grasslands for yam production to name a few. We have also covered cultural management through grafting and marker trees. A matter that I have consulted with local indigenous people about.
I used the Aust J Bot article as a reference in one of may own publications last year. I thought it was excellent work
I have attached a photo of a tree in a tree stump in my garden – one of several that I have established in this way over the decades.
I hope that you gained satisfaction from name calling and labelling someone that you know little about.Please do not respond to this email as I will not exchange emails with you again
Bill the botanist’s tree in stump garden pic
So umm, Bill, if as you say, “I am well aware they are not accidental epiphytes” then what do you think the TinTs are then? Why give me all those examples of accidental epiphytes if you are aware the TinTs are not just random fortuitous plant pairings? As Im unable to google up any publications of yours among your admirable output re CMTs or Indig. land management Bill, I will have to assume I have struck a nerve with my “cultural change denier” pun. The longer it takes academics to get their heads around the TinTs the sillier they look. As an Arboriculturist you should have read my ‘short communication’ & contacted me – Australian Aboriginal Arboriculture – If not just paste this link into your search engine
– Corpus Journal of Arboriculture and Horticulture (CJOAH) Volume 1 Issue 1, 2024
My friend Sandra says, “The academic world is far too stilted & egotistical for me”, among other comments that are not suitable for sharing here. The politicising of research in Australia makes me wonder if botany is still even considered a science? Ecology has always been on the less rigorous side of scientific method in my mind, but Jen Silcock has been the only younger academic to put her hand up. She was right when she told me years ago that no one was really interested in trees in this country. She was right more recently too when she wrote this about the chances of getting funding for TinT research ..
I understand your frustration, but there is no way that anyone will work on the trees or any cultural heritage without the direct involvement and support of the local community.
Since there is no involvement/ support locally or interest from any botany type boffins it’s the end of the road for me … BUT what a beautiful road it was! Jen is still finding TinTs around Charleville & Sandra is still turning them up near Gulargambone. Leon Flick flicks me few every now or then too but sadly TinTs are a concept too big for our aussie ‘small ideas only’ scholars. Save your virtue signalling for your peers Bill, in the words of Shannia Twain -”it dont impress me much”. Below is MY virtue signalling in pics. This coral/ boxing glove cactus (Cylindropuntia fulgida var. mamillata) has defied chemical spray (Roundup, Grazon etc), grassland pellets & the biological control cochineal (Dactylopius tomentosus) so Im digging it out & burying it now. When I cut out every cactus including all their fingernail size spawn, we will drench the pit with diesel & burn the bastards. Then I too can stick an emu feather up my arse & prance around singing my own praises …
Let the cactus burn
Let me feel no pain
When I drown my soul in whisky
And dance in the flames
Apologies to Graeme Connors – Let the Canefields Burn
