McConaughey plans placenta ritual

One-month-old Levi is the couple's first child

Actor Matthew McConaughey says he has kept the the placenta from the birth of his son in July and plans to bury it in an orchard.

The US star of A Time To Kill and Fool's Gold told CNN's House Call With Sanjay Gupta that he hoped the ritual would help to fertilize the land.

"It's going to bear some wonderful fruit," said the 38-year-old.

"When I was in Australia, they had a placenta tree that was on the river," he added. "It was gorgeous."

"All the placentas of all that tribe, all that clan, whatever aboriginal tribe that was, all the placentas went under that one tree and it was this huge behemoth of just health and strength.

"This tree was just growing taller and stronger above the rest of Mother Nature around it."

McConaughey and his partner, Camila Alves, had their first son Levi Alves McConaughey on 7 July.

In an interview with CNN, which was taped this week, the actor can still be seen wearing a hospital bracelet from the birth.

He stars alongside Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr in spoof war film Tropic Thunder, which hits UK cinemas next month.