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 is extinct in the wild, but some individuals survive in botanical and private collections. [2] It holds significant cultural importance for the Rapa Nui people, known for it's statues, ceremonial objects, and other tools made from the wood.[3] The species serves as proof that human intervention of a natural environment can drastically change the composition of native flora negatively, even to the point of extinction.

Morphology

Sophora toromiro flower

Sophora toromiro is considered a small shrub or large tree, with it's adult height being up to 5m. It's leaves are pinnate, with bright yellow flowers resembling the Chilean bellflower, which has red flowers of a similar shape. The wood is dense and hard, with a red-brown color and vertical fissures. [4] Fruits are not seen. It's lifespan is unknown due to lack of data and extinction in the wild.

History

The first documented specimen of Sophora toromiro was made in 1774 by European settlers, with notes indicating the species were sparsely populated and visually dead or dying due to overgrazing. [5] Research suggests that Sophora toromiro was introduced to Europe in the 16th and 17th century by explorers due to genetic evidence from a cultivated specimen from the year 1800. [6]

Heavy deforestation had eliminated most of Easter 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.[7] The last wild specimen was a plant in Rano Kao in 1935, it was chopped down in 1960.[8] 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.[7] 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.[9] Additionally, the population declined due to overgrazing by the introduction of rabbits, sheep, pigs, horses, and cattle. [5] Other human impacts include increased use of fire for clearing as a basis for settlement. [2]

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. While the seeds have a difficult time germinating and surviving ex-situ, there are efforts being made to introduce it back to Rapa Nui.[4] 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.[10]

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. ^ Rivera Caniulao, M.; Chaparro, C.B. (2021). "Sophora toromiro". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T30392A149811526. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T30392A149811526.en. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b Püschel, Thomas A.; Espejo, Jaime; Sanzana, María-José; Benítez, Hugo A. (2014-12-19). "Analysing the Floral Elements of the Lost Tree of Easter Island: A Morphometric Comparison between the Remaining Ex-Situ Lines of the Endemic Extinct Species Sophora toromiro". PLOS ONE. 9 (12): e115548. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...9k5548P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115548. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4272316. PMID 25526512.
  3. ^ Magazine, Smithsonian; Lewis, Daniel. "How Rapa Nui Lost a Tree, Only to Have It Sprout Up Elsewhere". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2025-02-25.
  4. ^ a b Canberra, National Arboretum (2020-07-03). "Forest 77 - Toromiro and Pagoda Tree". www.nationalarboretum.act.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-02-25.
  5. ^ a b Maunder, Mike. "The Conservation of the Extinct Toromiro Tree". The Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 14 (4): 226–231.
  6. ^ Shepherd, Lara D.; Thiedemann, Marlies; Lehnebach, Carlos (2020-07-02). "Genetic identification of historic Sophora (Fabaceae) specimens suggests toromiro (S. toromiro) from Rapa Nui/Easter Island may have been in cultivation in Europe in the 1700s". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 58 (3): 255–267. doi:10.1080/0028825X.2020.1725069. ISSN 0028-825X.
  7. ^ a b 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.
  8. ^ Camila Beatriz Chaparro (University of Concepción); Maximiliano Rivera Caniulao (University of Concepción, Chile) (2021-06-07). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Sophora toromiro". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Archived from the original on 2025-01-30.
  9. ^ Attenborough, David (October 7, 2010). Life On Air: Memoirs Of A Broadcaster. BBC Audiobooks. p. 236. ISBN 978-1408467503. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  10. ^ 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.


Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toromiro
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