And bid farewell to a bunch of pricks
The weird thing about a hot, summery Christmas is that it still comes accompanied by the visual paraphernalia of a bleak northern hemisphere’s winter yuletide. We’ve somehow adopted snowmen, icicles and spikey old holly for our seasonal froufrou. But who knew that holly actually originated in Australia?
The oldest holly fossil ever discovered was in Victoria and is estimated to be 90 million years old. From there it apparently spread around the globe through wind pollination and ultimately finished up on the snow-scaped Christmas cards which we oddly love to replicate. Holly’s religious significance actually predates Christianity, as it was valued as a great fertility symbol by the Pagans. They would also use it ornamentally to ward off evil spirits. Naturally, like almost every other Pagan symbol, it was appropriated by Christians who then determined that the red berries represented the blood of Jesus, and the pointed leaves portrayed his crown of thorns.
A native Australian holly which grows in rainforests from NSW to Queensland still exists today but the evolved European version is now a declared “Invasive weed” in the cooler parts of this country, where it causes major environmental damage.
Luckily, we are blessed to have our own locally indigenous floral, festive symbol, the NSW Christmas Bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum), so named because its green foliage contrasts with its brightly coloured “flowers”. The petals are actually small and white and it’s the sepals that turn reddish pink in December. The plant’s beautiful sprays have been used as a decoration here since early colonial times and frankly it totally “woops holly’s ass” as a crowd pleaser.
Large plantations have even been established for the export market to provide high quality flowers for Thanksgiving in the U.S, Chinese and Japanese New Year and Valentine’s Day in Asia. in the mid-2000s it was described as the fastest growing export crop in eastern Australia, with 100,000 plants under commercial cultivation.
Go to any farmers market in the lead up to December 25th and you’ll see queues of covetous people paying top dollar for smallish sprigs of this native plant (it occurs naturally only in NSW, East of the Great Diving Range). Alternatively, you could grow your own, save money and provide habitat and a food source for local wildlife too. Indigenous plant nurseries such as Indigo or Harvest Seeds will sell you authentic tube-stock plants for less than $10. It should be grown in full sun, where possible, to develop the full colour intensity.
So, if you’re looking forward to a true-blue, Aussie Chrissie, stock up on Tawny Grogmouth beer, crank up the vegan barbie and festoon yourself with NSW Christmas Bush. You know it makes total sense.