Ribbonwood or ‘Idiot fruit tree’

By Niesha Agilan

The Idiot Fruit or Ribbonwood, is one of the most primitive of flowering plants.

It is an ever-green tree, 20-30m tall. It is found in a few areas of the Daintree

rainforest in far north Queensland. The flowers are 4-5 cm with spirally

arranged red petals. The fruit is a brittle globular nut-like seed

around 8 cm in diameter, which splits into three or four segments once fallen.

Ribbonwood tree

The Ribbonwood tree

The plant was found in late 1800s by Timber cutters in South Cairns.

It was thought to be extinct and was again found in 1971. It was rediscovered as it was found in dead cattle’ stomach.

Rediscovery

Half of the flowers do not obtain any female sex organs.

The species uses the process called cross-pollination.

Attracted by the colour and smell of the flower, tiny beetles crawl in and lay their eggs within the centre of the flower, which contains the flower's pollen. Within the flower some of the sticky pollen gets trapped on the insect's bodies. If the next flower they visit is a receptive one, it will pollinate and produce the seeds.

Flowers of Ribbonwood

Ribbonwood flower

The seeds mainly spread through gravity dispersal, rolling down the steep mountain slopes to find their new home

The seed is poisonous.

Spread of seed

While other modern flowering plants produce seeds which have one or two cotyledon, the seedlings of the Ribbonwood have between three or four cotyledons.

So the Ribbonwood can produce more than one shoot per seed, while the seeds in all other plant species will send up a single shoot.

Germination

The poison in the seed can be used in small doses as a medicine to save lives

As all other plants it helps to produce oxygen while doing photosynthesis and clean the environment.

The plants give shelter for animals and insects to live in.

When the plants die, after a long time, they are transformed into the fossil fuel

Uses of Ribbonwood plant

A Rain Forest

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