The Tree of Plenty

Most remarkable of Ventiak flora is the giant gluptibub tree, called by the natives kalavativava, which is found in the forest of the high plateau of Miamalau Island. Growing up to forty metres high, with a thick, smooth truck almost two metres across, a full grown gluptibub is an impressive sight. Its broad, glossy leaves form an impenetrable canopy casting the deepest shade on the forest floor below. Its roots form giant ridges like saurian limbs gripping the earth. At the end of the rainy season, its spectacular white blossom fill the air with a heavy sweet scent and are so profuse that if one flies over the forest in an airplane whole areas seem to have suddenly burst out in a startling brilliance. Almost as remarkable is the fruit which comes a few months later; thousands of bright yellow balls, the size of oranges, filled with soft, sweet pulp and black seeds. Forest birds glut themselves to a state of drunkenness on this abundance and the fruit rains down to the forest floor in such numbers that anyone beneath is beaten into retreat by its force.

For the naturalist, however, the most curious feature of the gluptibub are Maxwell’s rings. These form round the base of the thicker branches and consist of numbers of tiny ducts which exude a thick, sticky liquid which is both very sweet and highly poisonous. The function of these rings, which, on the largest limbs, form bands several inches wide, is a matter of some dispute. One theory is that they prevent ants and other insects climbing into the upper branches. Why such protection is necessary has never been explained, however.