When we think of "Life in the Treetops" goats may not spring immediately to mind. But the Moroccan Argan Tree is a veritable 3 dimensional meadow. Read more below about this amazing tree!
A Forest of "Tree meadow" trees
In
drought-ridden conditions when there is little else to eat, goats will climb
up a variety of trees in
many of the warmer countries in the world. It is an unusual sight here in Britain
where we have plenty of grazing at a lower level and fewer goats. My family
had a couple of goats on our little farm in
Wales, who greatly enjoyed climbing the
roof of our old barns and took delight in jumping on top of the car roof .
No wonder the Chinese have a proverb saying "If you don't have any worries, keep a goat!"
Some holidaymakers to the Mediterranean countries come back come back with
amazing photos of goats grazing in trees. The most spectacular of these
pictures originate from South-West Morocco, where there is a unique habitat of semi-desert Argan
Forest, which is sadly declining. Nearly half of the forest has disappeared
in comparison with Victorian times. 600 hectares are lost every year. The
main reason for this demise is the effect human beings have on the
environment in a variety of different ways. For example:
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Many more people with ever larger domesticated grazing herds have moved into the area. Over-grazing can easily be lethal to a fragile ecosystem.
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Unsustainable collection of firewood and timber.
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The abandonment of traditional land management in favour of modern more intensive agriculture, which includes plowing and irrigated crops.
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Unsustainable fruit gathering.
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The disappearance of spiny "nurse" plants such as Rhus pentaphyllum and Zizyphus spp. and the cleaning of spiny argan brush, which also protected the seedlings, from beneath trees.
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Global warming may also be an additional factor.
International recognition for the unique Argan Forest
The
ecological importance of this rare habitat has been endorsed when the
Argon Forest area was made a "World Heritage Site" and the
2.5 million ha Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve was created.
One
description of the distinctive nature of Argan Forest can be found in a 1931
book by David Fairchild "Exploring for Plants" :
"...at last we neared the coast and came suddenly into a
forest of argan trees. On either side of us stretched away to the horizon
what looked like orchards of old buttressed apricot or plum trees laden with
ripening fruit. I could scarcely believe that I was in a natural forest and
that the trees, centuries old, had not been planted by man."
This type of desert forest is notoriously difficult to regenerate once it
no longer maintain itself naturally. This time it will need human help. It will need tree nurseries, replanting
new Argan trees and protecting them until established.
Some facts about the Argan Tree
The Argan
Tree (Argania spinosa), also known as Morocco Ironwood, is quite a
thorny evergreen tree that grows up to 10m high. Its life span is said to be
anywhere from 125 to 450 years and the tree may not come into full
production until it is 40-60 years old. Newly planted groves are not just a
valuable gift to the next generation, but they will help in the battle
against encroaching desertification right now. The trees can cope with low
rainfall and only needs 100 to 200 ml (4 to 8 in).
It has the ability to be dormant in drier times and will regenerate
when the rains come again. It will also regenerate after being coppiced. Coppicing
is the cutting down of trees in its relative dormant season once in a while.
If this coppicing is done with sufficient knowledge of species and local
conditions, the tree will respond by growing new shoots from its roots.
Botanically,
Argan is a relic species from the Tertiary Age, the only member of the
tropical Sapotaceae family occurring north of the Sahara and the single
species of the genus Argania. The exact location of this remarkable tree
is in the
Souss Plain, the Anti-Atlas and the High Atlas Mountains of southwestern
Morocco up to an elevation of 1500m or 4920 ft.
The photo on the
left shows that the shade thrown by the tree helps to maintain important
pasture grasses which might disappear altogether without such protection due
to the drying effects of the sun to the thin soil.
The Berber Tree of Life
Argania spinosais
is locally known as The Tree Of Life, because it helps to make
life possible for many creatures in the semi-arid desert of south Morocco.
Its roots travel deep to find water and help to bind the soil. Tree root
systems also facilitate water infiltration and aquifer replenishment.
Here are some of the many ways in which the tree has been used by
traditionally by the nomadic Berber tribes and other locals:
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Timber for building materials and furniture making. The wood of the tree is excellent and virtually impervious to insect attack.
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Firewood: The wood and nut-shells are used as firewood for cooking.
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Ornament: The wood is also used decoratively in some of the inlaid boxes which are a craft form in the district and which are these days often produced for tourists.
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Charcoal: both for cooking and in the past also for use by craftspeople such as smiths.
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Animal fodder: Goats, camels and sheep can all eat the fruit and the leaves, but horses and mules cannot consume it for some reason. The trees are covered with vicious spines, which makes it hard for people to gather the fruits unless it is beaten off the branches with a stick. However, the spines do not deter the goats who love the fruits. Traditionally people would recover the hard nuts contained within the fruit from the animal dung. These nuts have an extremely hard shell, which would be broken by hitting the nut with a stone. This hard labour, done by woman, will produce one, two or three almond-shaped kernels. These contain 50% oil, which would be extracted in a press ususally powered by animals. The pressed cake that remains after the oil is makes a useful cattle food.
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Argan
Oil: The seed kernels produces a heavy oil, which is amber to
orange-coloured and has multiple uses.
The production of a litre of this oil is very labour intensive and is said to take at least 1˝ days. Merely to break open sufficient kernels with a stone takes about 12 hours!
In the past it was mostly country folk who would use this home-made oil. It was used as a substitute for olive oil and other fats. It has a lovely nutty flavour. A few drops stirred into couscous, the local staple grain, add a different dimension to this dish. It was also used as a cooking oil and it is excellent in salads. -
Amlou paste: One of the uses of the residue from the kernels after oil extraction is a thick chocolate-coloured paste called "amlou" which is sweetened with honey and served as a dip for bread at breakfast time in Berber households.
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Lamp fuel: The second pressings of the oil were a useful source of fuel to make a light in dark nights.
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Cosmetics and soap: Second pressing of the oil were also used in the manufacture of homemade soap and cosmetics. The skin products made from the oil soften the skin and help to reduce wrinkles by restoring the skin's water lipid layer.
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Medicine: Traditionally the oil was used as a protective agent in diseases of the liver and blood circulation, such as high cholesterol and arteriosclerosis. It is an excellent tonic and some say it has aphrodisiac qualities. It will generally strengthen the body’s natural defenses. It has now been scientifically established that Argan oil has almost twice as much vitamin E as olive oil and is rich in anti-oxidants. It is 80% unsaturated, containing eight essential fatty acids including 34-36% linoleic acid, which cannot be made in the body and must therefore be obtained from the diet. Argan oil also contains rare plant sterols not found in other oils, which have soothing anti-inflammatory properties, beneficial for arthritic or rheumatic conditions. The essential fatty acids affect cell fluidity, help to prevent loss of moisture from the skin, and linings of the nose, lungs, digestive system, and brain. They also play a part in the formation of prostaglandins, of which some reduce pain and swelling, while others help blood circulation.
Women's cooperatives are taking a lead
It
is hoped that the commercialisation of the health-giving argan oil (which is
the most expensive oil in the world) and other products of the tree will be
an incentive to local people to invest time and energy in the proper
maintenance and renewed expansion of the Argon Forest.
Nowadays the goats
are often kept out by forestry wardens until after the harvest of the fruit
and the nuts are extracted by machines. The extracted kernel is roasted and
ground, then water is added to the crushed seeds. Rinsing subsequently
separates the floating oil from the water - about 100 kilograms of seeds are
needed for just 1 to 2 k (2.2 to 4.4 lb) of exquisite oil - the rarest
edible oil in the world.
Cooperatives of local women are playing the major role in the establishment
of nurseries and the setting up of businesses to produce and market various commodities.
One of the champions of this mouvement is Dr Zoubida Charrouf, a female
professor in the Science Faculty of Rabat University. She was
honoured this year for more than 15 years of research into the properties of
the valuable Argan oil. Dr Charrouf is driven by the desire to improve
women’s lives and because Argan is locally the last remaining defense
against the ever encroaching desert. Not only can the oil be used for health
and medicine, but extraordinary things can be done with the extraction
residues," she says, with the leaves, wood pulp, wood – all can
be exploited industrially.
This photo was made by Richard Knight
and is courtesy of www.markhorrell.com
Although many reports state that this tree can only be found in Morocco, I have heard that it also occurs wild in Mexico, although the fruits are not utilised here. Efforts to cultivate the tree have also been made in the dry desert like conditions of Israel and Australia.
Now you've seen some
goats in a tree
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Lions in a tree in Kenya