A very striking parasite

Featured in

  • Published 20150203
  • ISBN: 9781922182678
  • Extent: 264 pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook

I RECENTLY EMAILED a photo of the Western Australian Christmas tree, Nuytsia floribunda, to a Chinese friend in Nanjing. In uncharacteristically gushy fashion, she wrote back rapidly, ‘I like these yellow flowers. They are very beautiful like gold, like honey. I want to eat them!’ Associating my flowers with hers, she then reminded me of meihua, the elegant plum blossom, the subject of much adulation in China.

Often we in Australia know more about the charismatic plants of the northern hemisphere than we do our own. Cherries, roses, tulips, oaks. But what lore of this brilliant golden tree of my part of the world could I tell my virtual friend? To venture an answer, I must begin with a premise: the Christmas tree is a perfect contradiction.

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

John Charles Ryan

John Charles Ryan is postdoctoral research fellow in communications and arts at Edith Cowan University in Perth. He is the author of the poetry...

More from this edition

Ghosts of the water dreamers

EssayWHEN HE VISITED Perth in 2012, Arizona water specialist Robert Glennon remarked: ‘I expected a dry city on the driest continent would be at...

Bali

GR OnlineIN 2013 A total of 429,000 Western Australians visited Bali, with more than a thousand arriving every day. Most were tourists, but a relationship...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.