THE SOAP TREE BELOW IS COMMON AT ST.MARY'S COLLEGE. THIS ONE IS LOCATED NEXT TO THE COMPUTER ROOM
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LIRRIRNGIRN.(hear audio)
Botanical name: Acacia holosericea.
Call it: Lirrirngirn in Yawuru,
Lomoorrkood in Bardi,
Nimarrkoodkood in Nyul Nuyl,
Lirrirnkirn in Nyangumarta,
Lirrirnkirn in Karajarri.
We call this the soap bush because when you wet the green seed pods (late August), crush and rub them together, a soapy froth forms. The pods are long and narrow and begin to curl when green. Later they become a distinctive tangled cluster when dry and dark brown. The black seeds have a bright yellow tip
where they attach to the pod like tiny beans (OCTOBER). This makes them easy to see when they fall to the ground. The "raw'' seeds can be roasted in hot ashes or collected when dry and ground to a flour base. This flour can then be mixed with water and made into a paste or baked as damper. The dried seeds can also be gathered from the ground or from within mounds, where they have been stored by ants.
All the above tribes, exept the Bardi , use the seeds
of this plant to make the edible paste. Bardi
people believe that the Lomoorrkoodkood is a poisonous plant.
The shrub can be seen in Broome along the Cable Beach road
and Port Drive.
You can distinguish it by the long elliptic leaves, which are bluish green with silky texture, unlike a similar Acacia, which has shiny green leaves.
Lirrirngirn grows to the size of a small tree and it’s
long yellow flower appears June – July. The seed pods are born in the summer months from September to November, hanging like patches on the tree long after the seeds have fallen. (the green pods here started to form in August when new growth started in all the trees because of the heavy dues at this time.
ACACIA HOLOSERICEA.
Acacia, G, from acis, pointed instument. Holos, entire, whole. Serico,
Silken.
Common name: Soap bush.
Aboriginal name: Lirrirngirn.
Uses: Wood for spear.
Infusion from soaked, mashed roots drunk for laryngitis.
Infusion from bark, foliage and pods used as fish poison
Infusion of bark used for cough medicine.
Strips of bark tied around head to relieve headaches.
All acacias here have true leaves when they’re young. When mature they have phyllodes instead. Phyllodes are leaf stems which are modified to produce chlophyll (green food from the sun) by
photosynthesis. Phyllodes are more effective at extracting nitrogen from the air.
~"holo sericea" means " completely covered in silky hair". Hence it’s silky appearance.
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Soap bush, Liringgin
ACACIA HOLOSERICEA
~Green seeds can be roasted in their pods, and ripe seeds ground to make damper flour. The paste is a traditional baby food.
~In the early days seeds were collected, wrapped in paper bark and stored underground when times were lean.
~Leaves may be infused to make fish " Poison". It works by taking oxygen out of water, so the fish asphyxiate.
~ An infusion of bark will also poison fish( due to the tanning content), but can also be used as cough medicine.
~ Ash is mixed with tobacco.
The soap tree is a silvery-follaged shrub, or small tree, to 3 metres, and it’s Latin name means "complete covered with fine silky hairs", which gives it it’s silvery appearance. It grows well in disturbed areas, and can often be seen on road verges. This wattle will grow well in the garden, and responds to light pruning after flowering. It can be an attractive ornamental tree. The oval seeds inside the pods are small black and yellow in colour. The seeds attract many parrots who do great damage to the seed crop. Green seeds can be roasted while the ripe are ground down to flour for making damper or even made into a paste for use as a traditional baby food.
In the old days seed were collected wrapped in paper bark and stored under ground for use when times were lean. There was a report however on a 1913 Queens land Agricultural Chemical Test that seeds contain a spaponin which is potentially poisonous. We believe this may have been tested on the green fruit causing the soapy affect and it is not found in the ripe seeds.
Colour of leaves : dry season silvery appearance, wet season: dark green.
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