Nyutsia floribunda bowl

Article | Updated 1 years ago

This bowl is turned from a piece of wood from the Nyutsia floribunda, the WA Christmas tree. The Christmas Tree bowl was acquired through the Cultural Gifts Program and is part of a larger collection of bowls and turned wooden objects made by noted WA botanist and landscape architect, Marion Blackwell. Marion is a landscape designer and environmental scientist who designed and constructed gardens worldwide, including the Harold Boas Gardens in West Perth and Murdoch University gardens.

Frustrated with the lack of a reference collection of Western Australian timbers Mrs Blackwell began working with local wood turner, Gordon Wilkins, to create an assemblage of objects that would reveal the grain and structures of the timbers.

The Nuytsia have an additional Christmas association - the tree is also the world's largest variety of mistletoe! They grow across WA from Kalbarri to Esperance and are hemiparasitic plants; they grow by attaching themselves to a host plant, drawing water and nutrition from the host.