CAT-00097
Little gooseberry tree
Buchanania arborescens
Catalog fields
- Genus
- Buchanania
- Photo
- Not recorded
- Edible
- Yes
- layout
- single
- Habitat
- Grows in open forest, gallery and littoral forest, evergreen and semideciduous vine forest. The fruits are popular with birds and other forest animals.
- Published
- Yes
- Food group
- Fruit
- Latin name
- Buchanania arborescens
- Fruit photo
- Not recorded
- Plant title
- Little gooseberry tree
- Source URLs
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Buchanania%20arborescens | https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/bushfoodintro.htm; https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A69275-1 Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗ Open source 3 ↗
- Catalogue ID
- CAT-00097
- Mature width
- Not confirmed; allow spread appropriate to growth habit
- Native range
- Occurs in far northern Western Australia, northern Northern Territory and from Torres Strait to Townsville in Queensland; also extends to Solomon Islands and southeast Asia.
- Plant family
- Anacardiaceae
- Supplier SKU
- Not recorded
- Listing group
- Nursery-listed / regional edible
- Mature height
- About 10 m reported in Australian account; to 35 m in tropical flora
- Native states
- NT, QLD
- Original list
- No
- Research date
- 10/10/2026
- Research notes
- Source is a nursery catalogue overview; detailed species verification remains. Profile enriched from botanical/nursery sources. Dimensions are unpruned regional estimates where available; missing measurements remain explicit. Seasons are regional guides and vary with climate, location, cultivar and plant maturity. Drought and cultivation guidance are qualitative garden inferences, not measured ratings.
- Evidence status
- Nursery food-use listing; species detail review pending
- Fruiting season
- After flowers
- Background photo
- Not recorded
- Edible component
- Ripe fruit flesh
- Flowering season
- August-September in Australian published account.
- Brief description
- Tropical tree with leathery leaves and cream flower panicles.
- Drought tolerance
- Low to moderate; water for establishment and crop.
- Preparation notes
- Confirm species identification, the specified edible part, ripeness and species-specific preparation before use.
- Flower description
- Small cream flowers in branching clusters.
- General cultivation
- General guidance (qualitative): Large warm-site trial; protect juveniles from frost.
- Botanical description
- Tree to 15 m high (in Australia). Branchlets pubescent, glabrescent. Leaves obovate, oblong-obovate or oblanceolate, obtuse, sometimes acuminate, subcoriaceous, glabrous; lamina usually 5–26 cm long, 2–7 cm wide; base narrowly cuneate, decurrent; secondary veins mostly 9–22 pairs; tertiary veins scalariform-reticulate; petiole ± plano-convex, 0.5–2.5 cm long. Panicles to 22 cm long, ± appressed-pubescent, glabrescent; pedicels articulate 0.5–1 mm below base of calyx, or not articulate, sometimes with subtending bracts. Calyx lobes broadly ovate or rounded, 0.7–1 mm long, glabrous. Petals oblong-elliptic, 3–4 mm long, glabrous. Anthers 1–1.8 mm long; filaments 0.9–1.2 mm long. Carpels to 1.5 mm long; fertile one pilose. Drupe c. 10 mm diam.
- Other botanical names
- Not recorded
- Attracts birds and bugs
- Native bees and insects visit flowers; canopy shelters birds.
- Flora of Australia profile
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Buchanania%20arborescens Open source ↗
- Fruit type and description
- Small red, flattened fleshy drupes about 1 cm across.
- Flora of Australia citation
- L.W. Jessup. Buchanania arborescens. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Buchanania%20arborescens (accessed 2026-10-14). Copyright Commonwealth of Australia; CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). HTML formatting removed; species-level context added where noted. Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗
- Flora of Australia retrieved
- 14/10/2026