Aboriginal people used wood for boomerangs

Whalebone Tree is a shrub or small tree to 15 metres with downwardly arching branches. It grows in all types of rainforest, particularly along scrubby watercourses, in Queensland and New South Wales. The Atlas of Living Australia notes distribution is from Torres Strait Islands and northeastern Queensland south to Milton, New South Wales. Widespread throughout much of the Pacific. Small male flowers in short spikes, female flowers solitary in September to March. Aboriginal people used wood for boomerangs. Edible yellow fleshy berry ripe November to December eaten by various birds including Brown Cuckoo Dove, Green Catbird, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Rose Crowned Fruit Dove and the Topknot Pigeon.

Streblus brunonianus flower. Photo: Mark Marathon CC BY-SA 4.0

Seed collecting and propagation

Seeds germinate reliably but are difficult to find because birds love them. Fruit is a small yellow berry 5 mm wide, ripe March to November. Use fresh seed. Wash off seed coat in sieve. Germination up to 12 weeks. Strikes from softwood cuttings.

Photo: Robert Whyte