Sophora toromiro

Sophora toromiro, commonly known as toromiro, is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to Easter Island.

Sophora toromiro flower

Sophora toromiro
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Sophora
Species:
S. toromiro
Binomial name
Sophora toromiro

History

Heavy deforestation had eliminated most of the island's forests by the first half of the 17th century, and the once common toromiro became rare and ultimately extinct in the wild in the 1960s.[2] Local tradition has it that the rongorongo tablets of Easter Island are made of toromiro. However, all tablets of native wood tested by modern methods have turned out to be Thespesia populnea, known as miro or milo in some Polynesian languages.[2] David Attenborough describes the timber from which a small wooden male sculpture in his possession is made, having been identified by Kew Gardens as Sophora toromiro.[3]

Sophora toromiro seed

Conservation

The tree is being reintroduced to the island in a scientific project partly led jointly by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, where the only remaining plants of this species with a documented origin were propagated in the 1960s from seeds collected from a single tree by Thor Heyerdahl. It is sometimes claimed that all toromiro trees are derived from this single individual, but research has determined that at least one other tree's descendants survive.[4]

The Jardin du Val Rahmeh, a botanical garden in Menton in the south of France, is dedicated to the acclimatization and conservation of rare species, including Sophora toromiro.

References
  1. World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). "Sophora toromiro". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 1998: e.T30392A9535225. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T30392A9535225.en. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  2. Orliac, Catherine (2005). "The Rongorongo Tablets from Easter Island: Botanical Identification and 14C Dating". Archaeology in Oceania. 40 (3): 115–119. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.2005.tb00597.x.
  3. Attenborough, David (October 7, 2010). Life On Air: Memoirs Of A Broadcaster. BBC Audiobooks. p. 236. ISBN 978-1408467503. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  4. Maunder et al., 2000
  • Maunder, M et al. (2000): Conservation of the Toromiro Tree: Case Study in the Management of a Plant Extinct in the Wild. Conservation Biology 14(5): 1341–1350.


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