I’m gradually getting to know all of the plants, trees and flowers with whom we share our garden and this lillypilly  tree is beginning to flower and bear fruit.

It’s an attractive, tall tree in our garden belonging to the family Myrtaceae.  I tend to ignore its presence until I spot the blossom and whitish-mauve fruit but I’ve never actually photographed it before for some reason until now.  The lorikeets and butcher birds take shelter in it from the hot midday sun.

Fruits are succulent or fleshy and usually contain one seed.  They are edible but sour  tasting.

The fruit has  a small, round cavity at the top which encloses a single large seed and can be used to flavour jams and jellies, for skin products and making wine.  I discovered a recipe for  lillypilly wine here by Tom Worthington.  A wide range of birds enjoy feasting on the fruit.  The berry has a tart, cranberry-like flavor, that has a hint of cloves. It has been popular as a gourmet bushfood since the early 1980′s, and is commercially cultivated on a small-scale basis.

The lillypilly has fragrant white flowers in late spring, and these flowers are followed by fruits.  The flowers form in clusters and this particular species is waterhousea floribunda

Anthers are the pollen-bearing swellings on the ends of stamens, the filament-like structures which give the flowers their characteristic pincushion appearance

Sources:

http://asgap.org.au/APOL15/sep99-6.html

Book “Wild Plants of Greater Brisbane” a Queensland Museum Guide

http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2009/09/kitchen-gardener-ep-5-lilly-pillys-and-citrus.html