''Persoonia falcata'', commonly known as the wild pear, is a shrub native to northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by Scottish botanist

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

in 1810 in his paper, ''

On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae "On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae", also published as "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu", was a paper written by Robert Brown on the taxonomy of the plant family Proteaceae. It was read to the Linnean Society of London in the first qua ...

'', having been collected at

Endeavour River The Endeavour River ( Guugu Yimithirr: ''Wabalumbaal''), inclusive of the Endeavour River Right Branch, the Endeavour River South Branch, and the Endeavour River North Branch, is a river system located on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queens ...

, in what is now north Queensland. Its species name is the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

adjective ''falcata'' "sickle-shaped", from ''falx'' "sickle", and refers to the shape of the leaves. In 1870,

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

published the first infrageneric arrangement of ''Persoonia'' in Volume 5 of his landmark ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume Flora of Australia published b ...

''. He divided the genus into three

section Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

s, placing ''P. falcata'' into the otherwise wholly Western Australian ''P.'' sect. ''Pycnostyles''. The 1995 ''Flora of Australia'' revision of the genus saw it classified in the ''Teretifolia'' group, along with nine species from southwest Western Australia. These species have very short tepals compared with other persoonias. In their

Enindhilyagwa language Anindilyakwa () is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Anindilyakwa people on Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory of Australia. Anindilyakwa is a Agglutination, multiple-classifyin ...

, the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

people of

Groote Eylandt Groote Eylandt ( Anindilyakwa: ''Ayangkidarrba''; meaning "island" ) is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia. It was named by the explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and is Dutch for "large island" ...

call the species ''awulka''. The people of

Yirrkala Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. Its population comprises predominantly Aboriginal Australians of th ...

, who use the Rirratjingu language, call it ''dangapa'', and in the

Bininj Kunwok Bininj Kunwok is an Australian Aboriginal language which includes six dialects: Kunwinjku (formerly Gunwinggu), Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi (formerly Gundjeihmi), Manyallaluk Mayali (Mayali), Kundedjnjenghmi, and two varieties of Kune (Kune Dulerayek a ...

language, used by the Bininj people, who live primarily in western

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

, it is ''mandak''.

Description

''Persoonia falcata'' grows as a woody shrub or small tree, anywhere from high. The thick dark grey bark is layered and flaky. The pale green-grey leaves are long and wide, and oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate or falcate in shape. The yellow flowers appear from June to November. The yellow-green fruit, known as

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

s, appear from October to February. Edible, they are eaten raw by local aborigines.

Distribution and habitat

''Persoonia falcata'' ranges across a broad swathe of northern Australia, generally within of the coastline. In the northwest of Western Australia it is found in the

Great Sandy Desert The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion,IBRA Version 6.1
data

and vicinity of Broome, eastwards across the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

into northern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, with the Blackdown Tableland marking the southeastern limit of its range. It grows along watercourses, gorges and sandstone outcrops, generally on sandstone-based or alluvial soils. It is also found on granite-based and lateritic soils, and rarely clay. It grows in ''Eucalyptus'', ''Melaleuca'', or mixed open woodland communities.

Cultivation and uses

Attempts to grow ''Persoonia falcata'' at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney and Melbourne have failed, as plants planted into soil have perished. Aborigines would use a solution infused with wood and bark as an eye wash, and drink an infusion from the leaves to treat chest colds and diarrhoea. Leaves could also be applied to

circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

wounds.

References

External links

Flora NT factsheet: ''Persoonia falcata''. Northern Territory flora online
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7170712

falcata The falcata is a type of sword typical of pre-Roman Iberia. The falcata was used to great effect for warfare in the ancient Iberian Peninsula, and is firmly associated with the southern Iberian tribes, among other ancient peoples of Hispania. ...

Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland Flora of Western Australia Proteales of Australia Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)