Malta – Northern Region – Oldest Carob Tree

Not that I would have known this without the helpful nearby information board, but this is the oldest carob tree on Malta and it’s thought to be over 1,000 years old. Getting on for being 7.5 metres in circumference, it’s certainly a bulky little specimen. It’s suggested that the name of this tree is where the word carat, as in gold, comes from, a derivative of the Arabic word ‘qirat‘.

Some of the tree’s branches. The information board mentions that a home-made syrup has been made from the fruit of the tree, which is thought to be useful in alleviating the suffering from colds, and during the shortages of the Second World War it was also used as food.

And a little information board about the tree, which is apparently popular with bees. Just behind the tree is an apiary dating back to Roman times, which is where bees were farmed, or whatever the technical term is to get honey.