Herbarium Sheet Detail
NTBG Plant Name:
Cordyline fruticosa
Collector Name:
Michael J. Balick
Collection Date:
August 2, 2007
Determiner:
! David H. Lorence 2008
Observers:
Yadana Desmond, Ann Kitalong, Roberta Lee, Nicholas Penna
Island Group:
CAROLINE ISLANDS
Locality:
Obakradebkar's Summer House, Ngeruluobel.
Plant Description:
Shrub to 3m, flowers red, immature fruit green, red berries.
Ethnobotanical Notes:
Legend- The Fountain of youth was created from this plant. The two sons of a farmer go out fishing for the day and return home with all their fish cooked. They told their parents that each fish was too good and full of fat to eat for themselves, so they cooked them and saved them for their parents, never eating a single one. The parents were so touched, that the father went to search a village known from magic- fountain of youth (Ngerchokl) in Ngarrand. He knew he had reached the right village because while paddling through the mangrove channel he stuck his bamboo oar into the stone docking pier, he found that the stones spoke, they were actually ancient people bent double who had lived there forever from the effects of fountain of youth, but were unrecognizable. A magician there gave him Siseleanged and told him to plant it by a stream. The father planted the Siseleanged by a stream in which the boys would wash after returning from a day of fishing. (The plant was planted there to make the fountain work. The magic was in the plant.) Meanwhile an old woman walking b the stream with her baby was feeling hot and decided to take a dip in the stream to cool herself. When the mother emerged her baby did not recognize her. The mother had looked at her own face in the calm water to find that appeared young again. She dove back into the fountain of youth, returning to her normal appearance. By doing this she returned the river to a magicless state. (CK)
Additional interview (7 Aug 2007) Obakradebkar Clarence Kitalong (CK) (Additional interviewers Kiblas Soaladaob, Christopher Kitalong)
Habitat:
Agroforest trail.
Date of Record Creation:
May 7, 2012
Date of Last Update:
August 6, 2023
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