Another tree that’s in fruit at the moment is
Fontain’s blushwood (
Fontainea picrosperma, family Euphorbiaceae). This species restricted to higher altitudes on the central and southern Atherton Tablelands and is the only species in the genus in Far North Queensland. (See map below.)
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| Blushwood flowers, 9 December 2011 |
The flesh is a pale watermelon pink under a light green rind. You’ll have to take my word for it, because it has dried out to an unappetising yellow in the photos here. I’m not sure what is taking the fruit — white-tailed rats or possums — but they disappear as soon as they ripen. And I'm sure they're not teleporting into a parallel universe. Well, pretty sure.
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| Ripening fruit, 30 December 2011 |
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| 30 December 2011 |
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| Ripe fruit cut open to show seed, 8 January 2012 |
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| Characteristic single five-lobed seed |
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Distribution of Fontainea picrosperma
Specimen data reproduced from Australia's Virtual Herbarium
with permission of the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria Inc. |
(Thanks to Angela from TREAT, who identified it from my description — no mean feat.)
