JACARANDA TREE

JACARANDA TREE

LATIN NAME: JACARANDA MIMOSIFOLIA

HOMELAND: ARGENTINA
Moon Goddess of the Amazonas

The Jacaranda tree, which was brought to Europe by Portuguese explorers from the region spread over Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, is mentioned in the Cyclopedia, which is accepted as the World's first encyclopedia, published in 1753 by the English writer Ephraim Chambers, the first written source in which it is native to the North of Argentina. Although, it was actually growing naturally in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean Basin, Southeast Asia and Australia.

The name Jacaranda means "fragrant" in the native languages of South America, which is considered its homeland, and its Latin record is made as Jacaranda Mimosafolia by giving the suffix "mimosafolia", which means mimosa leaves, because its leaves resemble mimosa leaves.

Although it is the most important tree of parks and roadsides in its homelands, South America, especially in the cities of Brazil and Argentina. The Jacaranda tree has been adopted in very different ways in the cities of Pretoria in South Africa and Sydney in Australia.

The first planting of the jacaranda tree in a planned garden was made in Potts Point, near Sydney, Australia, in 1853 by the Australian writer James Martin, in a botanical arrangement he called the Clarens Garden around his home. Although it is mentioned as a town in historical records, Potts Point has now become Sydney's neighborhood as the city expanded over time. Influenced by the jacaranda trees that James Martin's children called "dreamtrees", it was described by the British author Anthony Trollope as "a fairyland in a garden descending towards the sea". Jacaranda trees, which spread allover Sydney from here, were also planted in the gardens of Sydney University because they were considered symbols of wisdom, and were called "thinking shadows" by philosophy students. Today, the name of the jacaranda tree has spread as the "thinking shadow", in all university gardens of the world.

There is also a story about the prevalence of Jacaranda trees in Sydney. According to the story, mothers who gave birth in Sydney's hospitals for a while were gifted with jacaranda saplings to watch them grow with their children, and the jacaranda tree has become the symbol of Sydney.

We can say that Pretoria, the political capital of South Africa, which has an estimated 70,000 jacaranda trees in its parks and gardens, may be called as the jacaranda capital of the world. Pretorials love of jacaranda begins when Jakob Daniel de Celliers planted two jacaranda seeds in his garden, which he bought from a Brazilian merchant in 1888. After that, Jacaranda trees became a symbol by being planted allover the city with the interest of both the people of Pretoria and the city municipality. The first jacaranda trees planted by Jakob Daniel de Celliers in 1888 are stil alive today and are under monumental protection.

The jacaranda tree is associated with the moon goddess of amazon mythology in the Amazon region of South America, which is considered its homeland. According to the story, a mitu bird, one of the amazon birds, lands on a jacaranda tree with a beautiful girl. This girl is actually a moongoddess priestess commissioned by the moongoddess to teach people wisdom and morality. After descending from the tree and living among people for a while, the beautiful girl fulfills the task given to her by the moongoddess, climbs up to the jacaranda tree again, meets with her soul mate, the son of the Sun, and returns to heaven.