Jigal

Lysiphyllum cunninghamii or West Kimberley Bauhinia

Jigily  (Yawuru)
jigal/joomoo (Bardi)

Flowering and Fruiting: Flowering Barrgana between April and October

Jigilyi are often commonly known as Jigal, and are found across the whole Kimberley, and in the NT and Queensland.  Locally there are many scattered through Minyirr Park and around the streets of Broome.

Jigal is a shady spreading tree with a distinctive paired leaf form.  It grows up to 12 m (occasionally up to 18 m) in height with grey fissured or tessellated bark.  Jigal have slender bright red flowers, and they have a very sweet nectar that attracts honeyeaters and native bees.  They are also very popular with people and many local kids grow up plucking the flowers from the tree and sucking the sweet nectar from the bulb.

The tree also produces an abundance of large, reddish-brown seed pods from November to January. The wood is used for windbreaks and makes good firewood.

The word Jigilyi is similar in sound to the Yawuru word for mother in law and the tree is sometimes known as ‘the mother-in-law tree”. The Latin name cunninghamii, honours Allan Cunningham, who was the botanist on the third voyage of the Mermaid with Phillip Parker King, and who collected the type specimen of Phanera cunninghamii.

For more information: “Broome and Beyond; Plants and people of the Dampier Peninsula, Kimberley, Western Australia”  full reference page 76.