23 Direction of Sustainable Development of the South Province Territories I Strolling along the waterways 22 Strolling along the waterways Temporary hydromorphic maquis Wetlands with niaouli trees A tree of light loving open environments Emerging from the water or punctuating the banks of lakes and rivers with its singular shape, the niaouli tree likes to capture the light through its white trunk covered with its multi-layered onion skin bark. In 1893, Jules Prévet filed a patent and marketed his essential oil under the brand Goménol, the name of which partly refers to an estate called Gomen in New Caledonia. A tree full of resources and linked to tradition The essence extracted from the leaves, rich in eucalyptol, is used against bronchitis. Its bark is used to cover the walls and roofs of the native huts. It holds an important place in customary ceremonies: during a birth, the infant is wrapped in niaouli tree bark to protect him and give him strength. During a funeral, the leaves and branches wrap the white currency authorizing the exchange between two clans. Moving away from the flow, a landscape at eye level Away from the water circulation zone, different facies develop. A discontinuous herbaceous stratum present on alluvial soil reveals areas of gravelly or armoured soil. It is accompanied by a loose shrub layer barely exceeding 1.50 m, sometimes topped with trees reaching a few meters in height, establishing themselves on the high or stony parts. This floral procession includes around 185 species with an incredible endemism rate of around 94%. A transitional plant association This ligno-herbaceous maquis, which can be described as semihumid, is found between the foothills of the lower slopes and the maquis on soils with almost permanent hydromorphism. It benefits from a supply of water and organic matter coming from the slopes. Composed of specialized species capable of withstanding phases of soil waterlogging, this plant group, existing only in the extreme south of the Main Island, was defined by the publication of Jaffré, in 1980, as an association with Homalium kanaliense and Costularia comosa today called Tetraria comosa.
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