Fantastic fruit

Medium tree to 6 – 18 metres with simple, alternate leaves in pseudo-whorls, 5-12 cm, shiny bright green with long petioles. Deciduous in cooler areas. Requires good drainage and can withstand drought by means of a water conserving root tuber. Compared to the dramatic fruit, relatively inconspicuous, creamy-white, lemon-scented flowers November to January. Large, eye-catching red fruit with about 8 or more black seeds. Raw or roasted seeds taste similar to peanuts. Sap used by Aborigines in northern Australia to treat wounds and stings. The Sterculiaceae include some towering tropical trees from South America. The name comes from Stercules, the god of rubbish dumps, for the unpleasant odour of some species. Aboriginal Australians used its leaves, sap and bark for treating wounds, sores, stings and eye ailments, as well as using the bark for traditional fibrecraft.

Fruit. Photo: Robert Whyte

Foliage. Photo: Robert Whyte

Flowers. Photo: Robert Whyte

Seed collecting and propagation

Red fruit with about 8 or more black seeds. Ripe in November to January. Try to collect ripe fruit quickly as it is attractive to Soapberry Bugs. Use fresh seed. No treatment. Plant directly into tubes. Germination takes 1 to 4 weeks.

Fruit, undersides of foliage. Photo: Robert Whyte