We took a four kilometre walk through a magnificent Cabbage Tree Palm forest in Booti Booti National Park. The Cabbage Tree Palm (Livistona australis) grows only on the east coast of Australia and has leaves plaited like a fan. In summer it has spikes of cream, sweetly scented flowers and bears a small, sweet cabbage-like fruit. In the very early years of European settlement in Australia, the leaves of this palm were used to make hats by the convicts and free settlers; they were known as cabbage tree hats.
Nature keeps to amaze me! I didn't know there were whole palm-forests! I only know them on the edge of a beach... Tthis looks like a really wild forest too, great capture!
Great place to walk-wonderful National Forest. We have cabbage palms in South Florida also, but probably a different variety. The leaves fan out as yours do.
This is gorgeous Robin. Another tropical paradise. Although, my first thought was that I would be scared of the spiders and snakes!! Then I read your response above. Yep, I'll stay in the sand. lol!!
@ladydi It's possible that these have been taken to other countries as they're popular because of their fan shape and can be grown in pots as well as gardens. But these particular ones only grow wild here.
@maggie2 Thanks, Margaret. No, I haven't tried them. They grow in the wild and by the time the cabbages develop they are quite high up and difficult to reach by someone like me. @top2042 Thanks. Yes, we certainly have Cycads. They are the most ancient of the world's cycads, having originally grown in Gondwanaland, the supercontinent that originally joined Australia, Africa and South America, among others. They grow wild in our rainforests and jungles and are also propagated for people's gardens.
Looks like a wonderful place to walk. Love your composition, the fronds of these trees look fabulous and I like that you included people to demonstrate the size and density of the forest.
@peggysirk@wac@shantwin Thanks Peggy, Wendy and Shannon. It was much cooler here than in the open. @miraries You've probably been here at sometime. It's in Booti Booti NP and is not actually a rainforest. Just these palms interspersed with eucalypts. Not much actual rainforest in these parts.
@top2042 Thanks. Yes, we certainly have Cycads. They are the most ancient of the world's cycads, having originally grown in Gondwanaland, the supercontinent that originally joined Australia, Africa and South America, among others. They grow wild in our rainforests and jungles and are also propagated for people's gardens.