Boojum trees are named after a mythical thing found in the work, The Hunting of the Snark, by Lewis Carroll. Their fantastic form resembles an upside-down carrot and groups of them create quite an astounding display as the vertical trunks snake up from the earth. It can grow to a height of about 20 metres. The small leaves that grow on it fall early, and the task of photosynthesis is left to the stem. If you want one in your own garden, you need to have deep pockets. Apparently, the tree is sold at the rate of $1000 per foot! The boojum tree is one of the strangest plants imaginable. For most of the year it is leafless and looks like a giant upturned turnip.
Its common name was coined by the plant explorer Godfrey Sykes, who found it in 1922 and said “It must be a boojum!”.
The swollen trunk base is often hollow and provides a habitat for bees; the wood is somewhat spongy and retains water. The boojum tree is sometimes planted in southern California and Arizona as a landscape curiosity; small plants can be grown indoors.
Credit : Google
Picture Credit : Google
