Flowering desert

A Wattle tree’s bright yellow flowers contrast with the red rock walls of Finke Gorge, south-west of Alice Springs. This place is known as Palm Valley, named for the Red Cabbage Palms (Livistona mariae) shown in the extra. This sheltered gorge in Central Australia is the only place these palms grow. It was once thought that they are relics of a plant community that was widespread in the area in a previous wettter climate. The present  theory is that seeds were brought to the area by aboriginal people some 15,000 years ago - Wikipedia has more detail.