Bad at Goodbyes

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Giant Quiver Tree.

Species Information 02:05

The Giant Quiver Tree, is a large, succulent tree native to the southwestern African continent, specifically the arid northwest of the country of South Africa and the rugged mountains of southern Namibia.

Appearance

It is characterized by a distinctive dichotomous branching pattern, meaning each branch repeatedly divides into two equal branches, a kind of upward symmetry. Mature specimens can reach heights of 50 feet with a trunk diameter ranging from 3 to 6 feet at the base, gradually narrowing towards the top. The trunk is covered in a fissured golden white bark.

The Giant Quiver Tree has adapted for frequent drought and maximum sun exposure. Its branches are made of a fiber that is soft and penetrable, in which it stores water. In response to extremes in its climate, the can shed its leaves and branches if deemed detrimental to its survival. Those fallen hollow branches lend the Quiver Tree its name, as indigenous people would use them to store arrows.

The leaves of Giant Quiver Tree are pale green, wide, and curved, arranged in a rosette pattern at the ends of branches. A rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves radiating outwards from a central point. This arrangement maximizes sunlight exposure for each leaf. The leaves themselves have a waxy surface, an adaptation that minimizes water loss in the dry environment.

The Giant Quiver is in the aloedendron family, a genus that includes aloe vera, which may be familiar, and it too is a succulent, a term that refers to the plant’s ability to store water in its thick, fleshy leaves, its branches and trunk. The Giant Quiver Tree produces vibrant yellow flowers that hang in clusters below the leafy rosettes.

The Giant Quiver Tree reproduces sexually. It is a monoecious species, each tree produces both male and female flowers, though the giant quiver, unlike some monoecious species, cannot self-pollinate. Pollination is primarily facilitated by birds, particularly sugarbirds, drawn to the yellow flowers and their nectar. After successful pollination, seeds develop within capsules and are dispersed by wind and by gravity. Those seeds germinate most successfully when temperatures remain between 60-75°F and with some precipitation. The fertilized seeds are viable for 2-5 years. During times of drought, the Quiver will pause its reproductive cycle by not growing flowers at all.

The oldest living Giant Quiver Trees are estimated to be 450 years old. Fossil record suggests that tree aloe species, like the Giant Quiver, diverged around 18 million years ago, a distinct species since the Miocene period.

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In the dream, reaching, a slow skyward stretching, a contented aged sunbather, in a green bonnet. In the dream, gregarious, have a little more dear, rest awhile here with me. The fox burrowed sweetly among the folds of her skirt, the sugarbird leaned against her golden shoulder. Steady and open armed for as long as memory, perennial means lasting or existing for an apparently infinite time; and it so does seem. So it does seem until the shy rain, until the long drought, and the aching thirst, and then time is finite and this is goodnight. In the dream, this is goodnight.

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Its natural habitat is primarily concentrated in a narrow band along the border between Namibia and South Africa, specifically in the Northern Cape province of South Africa and the southern regions of Namibia.

This is an extreme habitat marked by low rainfall, high temperatures, and intense sunlight. Average annual rainfall ranges from half of an inch to 2 inches, with most precipitation occurring during the summer months in the form of short, intense thunderstorms. Temperatures can fluctuate dramatically, with scorching daytime highs reaching up to 120°F in the summer, and nighttime lows dropping below freezing during the winter.

The Giant Quiver typically grows on rocky slopes, hillsides, and dry riverbeds, sometimes forming small, isolated populations or often instances of a single solitary tree. But, in the Quiver Tree Forest in Namibia, hundreds of these trees stand together, their tall, branching forms creating an uncanny silhouette and a kind of microhabitat where patches of hardy vegetation and animal life can thrive on the forest floor.

The Giant Quiver is one of the few large perennial plants that tolerates the extreme conditions of the region. As such, it is an important source of shelter, nectar, food and moisture, especially for birds.

It shares its habitat with a richness of biodiversity: Starling, adder, mouse, Sunbird, grasses, black scorpion, fox, mongoose, praying mantis, Falcon, tortoise, grasshopper, shrubs, hyaena, Ostrich, Nightjar, Leopard, Lark, bat, Zebra, and many many others.

As for threats to The Giant Quiver Tree: it is being illegally harvested; though protected and barred from international trade, there is still a demand for this tree in the black market, particularly among collectors of rare and exotic plants. So, it is sometimes poached from its native habitat.

Human encroachment, driven by mining, is resulting in ongoing habitat loss. The development of the mines themselves and surrounding infrastructure has secondary impacts such as windblown sand dumps and new water use in an already water-scarce region.

And human-induced climate change has resulted in extreme droughts over the last 20 years resulting in both individual tree deaths and reduced reproduction across the population. Changing weather and precipitation patterns, and increasing temperatures continue to pressure an already challenged population.

Ten years ago scientists attempted to model future climate change effects on the remaining Giant Quiver habitat and population. They used two climate prediction models estimating outward to 2080, a “best case scenario” in which greenhouse gas emissions were substantially reduced in the early part of our century, and a “worst case scenario” in which emissions continued at 2014 levels. In the worst case scenario all of the Giant Quiver’s native habit would be rendered uninhabitable by heat and drought by 2080 leading to total extinction in the wild. In the best case scenario, only 8% of the Giant Quiver’s population would survive, roughly 600 trees.

Most of the Giant Quiver’s current habitat and the tree itself is protected by Richtersveld Transfrontier Park with active management, and regular monitoring of the tree and its ecosystem.

The Giant Quiver Tree was placed on the Critically Endangered Red List in 2022, their population is currently in decline.

Our most recent counts estimate that less than 7000 Giant Quiver Tree remain in the wild.

Citations 17:07

IUCN – https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/31016/110113558

South African National Biodiversity Institute – http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=15461-3

Plants of the World Online – https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77125492-1

Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection 04 – http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/gep.2016.47001 

Quiver Tree Forest at Atlas Obscura (not a scholarly source, but nice pics!) – https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/quiver-tree-forest 

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloidendron_pillansii 

Music 18:42

Pledge 31:04

I honor the resilient lifeforce of the Giant Quiver Tree. I do not know its language, so I will carry its human name in my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our bright planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species.

And so, in the name of the Giant Quiver Tree I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to name and resist the harm of any kin or their habitat, by corporations and governments.

I pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.