A 110-year-old tree in Taitung County has blossomed for only the second time since 2003 after struggling due to an invasive wasp species.
The “Rueihe 100-year tree” (瑞和百年莿桐樹, an Erythrina variegata, known in English as a tiger’s claw or Indian coral tree) — the only one of its kind that is protected by the Taitung County Government — stands next to a shrine in Luye Township’s (鹿野) Rueihe Village (瑞和).
It has struggled to bloom due to erythrina gall wasps, which infest and kill plants in the Erythrina genus. The wasps were first discovered in Taiwan in late 2001 and have since spread across the nation.
Photo: CNA
They have killed many of Taiwan’s Erythrina variegata var. orientalis coral trees, which were once ubiquitous as street adornments in urban centers.
The coral tree in Rueihe is the only centenarian of its kind in low-lying areas of the county, local tree expert Chen Sheng-feng (陳正豐) said.
Its survival has not been without difficulties, with residents saying that wilted leaves and branches indicated it was on the brink of death several times.
However, it has refused to die, they said.
Its foliage, which always grows back, looks set to emerge this year in full bloom, they said.
A healthy member of the species blooms every year, but Rueihe’s has only done so once — in 2017 — in the past 20 years, residents said.
“I never thought the dying old tree could blossom again,” an 81-year-old woman who lives near the tree said on Friday.
The woman said she expected the tree to bloom this year after it began to sprout leaves last month.
The tree was already as big as it is now when she moved to Rueihe at age 17, she said, adding that hopefully the old tree would escape death’s call.
At the time, the tree was surrounded by weeds in what was a hunting area, she said.
Hunters would rest under the tree, she said, adding that a shrine to a land god was built under the tree and stands to this day.
Before it got sick, the tree bloomed every year and was covered in crimson flowers, making it look like a torch, the woman said.
The tree stopped blooming after wasps attacked it in 2003, said Han Kuan-yu (韓冠宇), an artist who works at Rueihe Railway Station.
Botanists and students nursed the tree back to health several years ago, Han said, adding that the fields it stands beside were believed to have helped keep it alive.
He sometimes introduces the tree to visitors to Rueihe, inviting them to touch it and listen to its story, he said.
With no botanists attending to the tree for the past few years, he had worried it would die, Han said, adding that he was surprised by its burst of life this year.
Hopefully, visitors would visit the tree and “cheer it up,” he added.
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