Eremophilia debilis
Its scientific name can be roughly translated as “desert loving” referring to its ability to survive arid conditions, but rain during the fruiting season will result in sweeter fruit.
Indigenous Australians ate this as a snack, discarding the large seed which fills most of the capsule. Some sources say that the fruit contains a liver enzyme and recommend moderate consumption only.
It’s a lovely dense groundcover and a single plant can cover up to two square metres.
Flowers can be blue, white or pink and are star shaped. Around my home, I have only observed the pink flowering variety, which is said to be rarer than white and blue. It flowers sporadically through the year and fruits inevitably follow as green, then white and finally a pink blush when they are ripe “Winter Apples”.
This post was originally published on Medium as a part of the “Australian Bush Tucker Bites” series which is also available as an eBook introducing 52 bush food plants from around Australia.
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