Exocarpos aphyllus

R. Br.

Leafless Ballart, Leafless Cherry, Stiff Cherry

Santalaceae Edible: Fruit 733 iNaturalist observations

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Summary

Exocarpos aphyllus commonly known as leafless ballart,or chuk, chukk, dtulya and merrinby Noongar people, is a flowering plant in the family Santalaceae. It is a much-branched perennial with small, yellow-green flowers and is endemic to Australia.

Description

A shrub. It grows 2-5 m high and spreads 3-5 m across. It has many branches, The small branches are rigid and often end in a spine. The leaves are very small or scale like. The flowers are very small. They are cream and do not have a stalk. They occur in dense spikes or clusters. The fruit is attached to the succulent and edible fruit-like stalk. The fruit are about 0.5 cm across. It is a hairy nut on the end of a green or bright red stalk.

Edible Uses

The succulent, edible fruit-like stalks bearing the small nuts are eaten.

Medicinal Uses

Noongar (south-west Western Australian Indigenous Australians) boiled the stems in water to make decoctions for internal use to treat colds, and externally to treat sores. The mixture was also used to make poultices to be applied to the chest to treat "wasting diseases".

Distribution

It grows in arid and semiarid inland regions in Australia. It can grow near the coast. It grows attached to or in association with other plants. It can be in sandy soils or well drained clays.

Where It Grows

Australia*,

Cultivation

Plants are hard to propagate.

Notes

There are about 26 Exocarpus species.

References (11)

Altschul, S.V.R., 1973, Drugs and Foods from Little-known Plants. Notes in Harvard University Herbaria. Harvard Univ. Press. Massachusetts. no. 786
Bodkin, F., 1991, Encyclopedia Botanica. Cornstalk publishing, p 467
Boomsma, C.D., 1972, Native Tree of South Australia. Woods & Forests Department South Australia, Bulletin No.19. p 188
Clarke, P. A., 2013, The Aboriginal Ethnobotany of the Adelaide Region, South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. (2013), 137(1): 97-126
Cribb, A.B. & J.W., 1976, Wild Food in Australia, Fontana. p 75

Show all 11 references

Dashorst, G.R.M., and Jessop, J.P., 1998, Plants of the Adelaide Plains & Hills. Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium. p 50
Elliot, W.R., & Jones, D.L., 1992, Encyclopedia of Australian Plants suitable for cultivation. Vol 4. Lothian. p 268
Lazarides, M. & Hince, B., 1993, Handbook of Economic Plants of Australia, CSIRO. p 112
Low, T., 1991, Wild Food Plants of Australia. Australian Nature FieldGuide, Angus & Robertson. p 136
Paczkowska, G . & Chapman, A.R., 2000, The Western Australian Flora. A Descriptive Calatogue. Western Australian Herbarium. p 526
Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/