Friday, 15 February, 2008

Bunya Pine Cone

One morning my coworker Harold arrived with this weird thing in his bag for me. I thought it might be a weird looking pinapple. Turns out it's the biggest pine cone I have ever seen. The bunya pines grow in this area and produce these massive cones. The one on the picture is apparently a small one. Once dried, they open up and you find some nuts inside that are supposed to be very nutricious. Apparently they are quite dangerous as if they fall on your head, they can kill you.

"During the "Bunya season" the Aborigines would temporarily set aside their tribal differences and gather in the mountains for great Bunya Nut Feasts." [http://asgap.org.au/a-bid.html].


A bunya pine cone. Believe me, it's quite heavy!

The bunya pine tree is quite impressive to see as well, but, although we've noticed them around, we haven't taken a picture yet. There are picture at the link above-mentionned though.

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