Greetings fellow Foxies,
As I drove through the salt lakes south of Pingrup yesterday my eyes were drawn to a gleaming yellow bush that turned out to be Pittosporum angustifolium commonly known as Weeping Pittosporum, Gumbi Gumbi or Native Apricot. I am particularly interested in this as a specimen had been collected in Foxes Lair near the water tank, but it hasn’t been seen again. Vaguely recalling something about bush tucker I took a chomp. The taste was worse than disgusting. After much gagging, spitting, and a resolution to brush up on bushcraft, I recovered sufficiently to take a photo. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Australian Aboriginal people used it topically for eczema, pruritis or to induce lactation in mothers following child-birth and internally for coughs colds or cramps.
I tried to induce some colleagues to taste the appealing fruit without success. They are a suspicious lot!
As I drove through the salt lakes south of Pingrup yesterday my eyes were drawn to a gleaming yellow bush that turned out to be Pittosporum angustifolium commonly known as Weeping Pittosporum, Gumbi Gumbi or Native Apricot. I am particularly interested in this as a specimen had been collected in Foxes Lair near the water tank, but it hasn’t been seen again. Vaguely recalling something about bush tucker I took a chomp. The taste was worse than disgusting. After much gagging, spitting, and a resolution to brush up on bushcraft, I recovered sufficiently to take a photo. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Australian Aboriginal people used it topically for eczema, pruritis or to induce lactation in mothers following child-birth and internally for coughs colds or cramps.
I tried to induce some colleagues to taste the appealing fruit without success. They are a suspicious lot!
I successfully reared a few seedlings but they didn't thrive in the arboretum because stink bugs continually killed off the growing points. A plant in yellow sand in my daughter's native garden at Bunbury has flourished with numerous daughter plants establishing around it. When I went to pull out the "seedlings", I discovered that they were root suckers.
 Intact and exposed root suckers |  Closeup |