THE ARGAN TREE

or Argania Spinosa is truly fascinating and unique, believed to date back to the Tertiary period, it once covered North Africa and parts of Southern Europe. It was first reported by the explore Leo Africanus in 1510. An early specimen was taken to Amsterdam and then cultivated by Lady Beaufort at Badminton c1711.
Now only 860,000 hectares remain in S.W. Morocco and these are declining at a rate of 50,000h per year. Measures are being put in place to protect this rare and endangered species and in 1999 the argan was listed as a UNESCO Biosphere Heritage.

We believe that providing a fair income from producing argan oil from the seeds encourages protection of the tree which has been used in the past for building purposes or as charcoal. For this reason our logo has been designed using the argan tree as its central focus and our hope is that future generations will be able to support themselves from their unique heritage.
Known as the Tree of Life this tree can support the local population and its livestock during drought periods.

The fruit sustains goats, the leaves provide forage for camels and sheep, whilst cattle live off the press cake that remains after the oil is made.

The Argan grows wild in arid semi-desert conditions. It plays an essential ecological function in that it protects the soil against heavy rain and wind induced erosion. It provides shade while its roots bind the soil helping to protect against further desertification and the northern advance of the Sahara, It can absorb carbon dioxide and protect the environment.

During times of very low rainfall it has the ability to lie dormant, and to regenerate when the rains come also surviving temperatures of up to 50C.

Argan trees can have a single trunk, or a number of twisted, thickened stems and can grow up to a height of 10 metres. They yield the most fruit after 50-60 years surviving for 200-250 years, making the Argan Groves a valuable inheritance for future generations.

The Argan flowers in the spring producing green olive sized fruits that ripen to yellow. When they have dried in late summer they fall to the ground and are hand gathered. Argan trees are generally found on common land and belong to the Moroccan Forestry Commission. Families have hereditary gathering rights for specific areas close to where they live. Animals are forbidden to graze in the Argan Groves for 3 months before the harvest.



The sharp spiny thorns prevent the fruit being picked by hand, but in the past this did not stop large number of goats clambering to the topmost branches to devour them, so much so, that the Argan Groves were known as tree meadows.

However, nowadays the goats are kept out by forestry wardens and their owners are fined if they stray!
The seeds are in very hard casings inside the fruit layer. These are cracked open by hand by Berber women between a stone and a stone anvil.

It takes 10-12 hours to crack enough nuts to obtain sufficient seeds to yield 1 litre of oil. The fruit pulp can then be fed to goats, the 2nd grade oil used for burning in lamps and finally the remaining seed pulp fed to cattle. Nothing is wasted, the casings are used as kindling or as fuel in clay bread ovens, as they can burn for 30 minutes.

There is an argan tree in the temperate house at Kew, visit: www.rbgkew.org.uk for more information.

More info on the argan tree at Wikipedia.