Peruvian pepper (Schinus molle, also known as American pepper, Peruvian peppertree, escobilla, false pepper, molle del Peru, pepper tree, peppercorn tree, Californian pepper tree, pirul and Peruvian mastic) is an evergreen tree that grows to 15 meters. It is native to the Peruvian Andes. The bright pink fruits of Schinus molle are often sold as "pink peppercorns" although S. molle is unrelated to true pepper (Piper nigrum).
It is the largest of all Schinus species and potentially the longest lived. The upper branches of the tree tend to droop. The tree's pinnately compound leaves measure 8–25 cm long × 4–9 cm wide and are made up of 19-41 alternate leaflets. Male and female flowers occur on separate plants (dioecious). Flowers are small, white and borne profusely in panicles at the ends of the drooping branches. The fruit are 5–7 mm diameter round drupes with woody seeds that turn from green to red, pink or purplish, carried in dense clusters of hundreds of berries that can be present year-round. The rough grayish bark is twisted and drips sap. The bark, leaves and berries are aromatic when crushed.
Although not related to commercial pepper (Piper nigrum) the pink/red berries are sold as pink peppercorns and often blended with commercial pepper. The fruit and leaves are, however, potentially poisonous to poultry, pigs and possibly calves. Records also exist of young children who have experienced vomiting and diarrhoea after eating the fruit. Extracts of S. molle have been used as a flavour in drinks and syrups.
In traditional medicine, S. molle was used in treating a variety of wounds and infections due to its antibacterial and antiseptic properties. It has also been used as an antidepressant and diuretic, and for toothache, rheumatism and menstrual disorders, with recent studies in mice providing possible support for its antidepressant effects. It has also been speculated that S. molle's insecticidal properties make it a good candidate for use as an alternative to synthetic chemicals in pest control.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.
Warrandyte is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Manningham. At the 2011 census, Warrandyte had a population of 5,520. Warrandyte is bounded in the west by the Mullum Mullum Creek and Target Road, in the north by the Yarra River, in the east by Jumping Creek and Anzac Road, and in the south by an irregular line from Reynolds Road, north of Donvale, Park Orchards and Warrandyte South.
Warrandyte is a perfect location for a day trip from Melbourne, as it close to the city, is a lovely location and has plenty of opportunities for a leisurely and tasty lunch, a walk along the river and shopping for some unique gifts.
This post is part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.
John Batman bought the Northcote land from the Jaga Jaga tribe but the treaty was later declared invalid. The top half of Northcote was sold to speculators in 1839. Farmers along the more fertile upper reaches of the Merri Creek, Darebin Creek and the Yarra River supplied food for the growing city of Melbourne. The surveyed township of Northcote was laid out in 1853, when there were just a dozen houses in the area. By 1861 there were 170 houses. Mansions and larger homes were established on Northcote Hill by the wealthy classes; a series of shops and hotels were constructed on major routes; and industries such as the Northcote Brick Company established in the early 1880's developed in the area.
A number of German immigrants settled in Northcote in the early 1850's. Seven Germans bought blocks of land in Separation Street (named in honour of Victoria's independence from New South Wales), and they mostly settled on the flat land at the bottom of Northcote Hill. The Germans were a close-knit community who wanted to preserve their national identity in a new country. The 1901 census reveals that there were 77 German-born residents in Northcote.
The Old Cemetery is located in Separation Street and is now wedged between houses and the All Nations Park at the rear. The small rectangular cemetery is hidden away behind a one-metre red brick wall. Entry is through a wrought iron pedestrian gate and vehicle gates supported by brick pillars. This structure appears to have been erected in the 1960's. The layout is structured around a central drive which runs from the entrance in Separation Street. The records of initial burials are not available, but it would appear reasonable to that the earliest burials occurred in the 1860's. Many graves bear names like Müller and Schwaebsh, although other nationalities are represented.
The earliest receipt book for burial fees commences on 10 February 1899. The available records indicate fairly regular use of the cemetery up to about 1940. There have been approximately 200 burials. The cemetery has been closed since 1908, except for the holders of the right of burial. The last burial was in 1971. The Northcote City Council took-over the management of the cemetery in the 1920's, assuming all costs. Considerable works have made this cemetery a well-maintained and pleasant historic place.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.
Driving along Trenerry Crescent in Abbotsford, right by the tall fence that hides the Eastern Freeway from view, one sees a remarkable open air gallery which has been growing steadily over the last few months, and displaying an increasing number of works fixed on the wooden wall. Another suburban surprise of "arty" Melbourne!
The paintings are a curious mixture of political comment, idyllic landscape, pop art, literal representation and abstraction. I am not aware of the artist(s) responsible and I can;t seem to find much on the internet. It is best to park in the Dights Falls car park across the road and then walk a hundred metres or so West on the footpath (traffic can be heavy!) in order to admire the art works.
This post is part of the Monday Murals meme.
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne has quite an interesting background. The Cathedral was proposed to be built in 1847, only 12 years after the establishment of Melbourne, and an area of land in the Eastern Hill area was granted by the Colonial Secretary of Victoria for its construction. The Cathedral was devoted to St. Patrick, a saint of Ireland, as a majority of Catholics in Melbourne at that time were Irish.
The construction of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, designed by William Wardell, took a long time to start due to several obstacles like the lack of labour during the Gold Rush of the 1850s. Almost 11 years after the proposal, the foundation stones were finally laid in 1858. The central area of the church was completed within 10 years but soon after that, work progressed at a very slow pace mainly due to the misery that struck Melbourne in 1891. The construction of the main part of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne was finally over in 1897. Daniel Mannix, who became Archbishop of Melbourne in 1917, maintained a constant interest in the cathedral, which he was determined to see finished after the long delays during the previous 30 years. He oversaw the addition of the spires and other elements in the late 1930s. The building was officially completed in 1939.
The Cathedral is famous because of its grand and awe-inspiring architecture which is in the Gothic Revival Style. This style refers to the imitation of the technique of church building in the middle ages and which was most admired in Europe and America in the late 19th century, spurring the construction of gothic revival structures. The central area of the church is designed in the early English style while the rest of the building is more geometrical identifying with the later Gothic style.
This post is part of the Spiritual Sundays meme,
and also part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme.
Dights Falls is located in Melbourne, Victoria just downstream of the junction of the Yarra River with Merri Creek, about 2 km east of the City. At this point the river narrows and is constricted between 800,000 year old volcanic, basaltic lava flow and a much older steep, Silurian, sedimentary spur.
Prior to European settlement, the area was occupied by the indigenous Wurundjeri tribe of the Kulin nation. The rock falls would have provided the Aboriginal people with a natural river crossing and place to trap migrating fish. It was also a meeting place for many clans where they would trade, settle disputes and exchange brides.
In January 1803, Charles Grimes, the deputy surveyor-general of New South Wales, was sent to Port Phillip to survey the area. Sailing on the schooner Cumberland, under the command of Acting Lieutenant Charles Robbins, the party entered Port Phillip on 20 January 1803. Grimes explored the Yarra by boat for several miles until he reached Dights Falls on 8 February. On a ridge above the falls, 250 metres to the east, is a historic marker commemorating the “first white men to discover the river Yarra reaching Yarra Falls on 8th February, 1803.
Also to make the first crossing near here with the cattle by the first overlanders John Gardiner, Joseph Hawdon and Captain John Hepburn in December 1836”. In the 1840s, an artificial weir was built on the natural bar of basalt boulders to provide water to the “Ceres” flour mill, one of the first in Victoria. In the early 1840s John Dight established Melbourne’s first water-powered flour mill on the site. In 1888 “Yarra Falls Roller Mills” built a water-turbine powered mill, which was the largest and most sophisticated of the thirty two water powered mills built in Victoria before 1900.
This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme,
Darebin Creek is a creek that runs through the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the main watercourse of the Darebin Valley and a major tributary of the Yarra River. For tens of thousands of years it was used as a food and tool source sustainably by the Wurundjeri people, Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation alliance, who spoke variations of the Woiwurrung language group.
The creek rises on the northern urban fringe of Melbourne north of the suburb of Epping, following a general southerly route and meeting the Yarra at Alphington. The creek forms much of the municipal boundary between the City of Darebin and City of Banyule. Formerly an intermittent stream, increased stormwater runoff with urbanisation of the Darebin Creek catchment has resulted in permanent water flow.
The creek runs through Darebin Parklands, a large nature reserve one or two kilometres northwest of the junction at which the creek meets the Yarra. The Darebin Creek Trail runs along the banks in the lower reaches of the creek. This is the creek at the Darebin Parklands in Alphington.
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.
Solanum betaceum is a small tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshade family). It is best known as the species that bears the tamarillo, an egg-shaped edible fruit. It is also known as the tree tomato, or tamamoro.
The tamarillo is native to the Andes of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. Today, it is still cultivated in gardens and small orchards for local production, and it is one of the most popular fruits in these regions. Other regions of cultivation are the subtropical areas throughout the world, such as Rwanda, South Africa, India, Hong Kong, China, United States, Australia, and New Zealand. The first internationally marketed crop of tamarillos in Australia was produced around 1996, although permaculture and exotic fruit enthusiasts had increasingly grown the fruit around the country from the mid-1970s on.
The plant is a fast-growing tree that grows up to 5 meters. Peak production is reached after 4 years, and the life expectancy is about 12 years. The tree usually forms a single upright trunk with lateral branches. The flowers and fruits hang from the lateral branches. The leaves are large, simple and perennial, and have a strong pungent smell. The flowers are pink-white, and form clusters of 10 to 50 flowers. They produce 1 to 6 fruits per cluster. Plants can set fruit without cross-pollination, but the flowers are fragrant and attract insects. Cross-pollination seems to improve fruit set. The roots are shallow and not very pronounced, therefore the plant is not tolerant to drought stress, and can be damaged by strong winds. Tamarillos will hybridise with many other members of the Solanaceae family, though the hybrid fruits will be sterile, and unpalatable in some instances.
The fruits are egg shaped and about 4-10 centimetres long. Their colour varies from yellow and orange to red and almost purple. Sometimes they have dark, longitudinal stripes. Red fruits are more acidic, yellow and orange fruits are sweeter. The flesh has a firm texture and contains more and larger seeds than a common tomato. The fruits are very high in vitamins and iron and low in calories (only about 40 calories per fruit).
The tree seen here (first photo, extreme left) is growing in our garden, and is only two years old. It has produced a profusion of flowers and already has some small green fruits. The last photo is from a tree we had a few years ago, which always produced many fruits. It was unfortunately destroyed in a storm with severe winds.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.
Southgate’s resident art sculpture “Ophelia” by artist Deborah Halpern has been re-located to the river promenade. For nearly 20 years “Ophelia”, had watched over the entrance to Southgate from her courtyard position at BearBrass. As part of Southgate’s redevelopment, “Ophelia” was temporarily taken back to the artist’s studio for restoration before being permanently relocated to a prominent riverside location, right out the front of Southgate’s main entrance.
Once known as the face of Melbourne, “Ophelia” was inspired by the character from Hamlet, full of both love and sadness. Halpern says “Ophelia” is the cousin of “Angel”, the sculpture that adorned the moat of the National Gallery of Victoria for nearly 20 years and now lives upstream at Birrarung Marr. Together they bring life and humanity to the river.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.
