CAT-00140
Cherry ballart
Exocarpos cupressiformis
Catalog fields
- Genus
- Exocarpos
- Photo
- Not recorded
- Edible
- Yes
- layout
- single
- Habitat
- Grows in various soils in Eucalypt forest and woodland.
- Published
- Yes
- Food group
- Fruit
- Latin name
- Exocarpos cupressiformis
- Fruit photo
- Not recorded
- Plant title
- Cherry ballart
- Source URLs
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Exocarpos%20cupressiformis | https://www.anbg.gov.au/apu/plants/exoccupr.html; https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?lvl=sp&name=Exocarpos~cupressiformis&page=nswfl; https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A780179-1 Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗ Open source 3 ↗ Open source 4 ↗
- Catalogue ID
- CAT-00140
- Mature width
- Not confirmed; allow spread appropriate to growth habit
- Native range
- Widespread from Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, through Victoria and eastern New South Wales to southeast Queensland, and in Tasmania.
- Plant family
- Santalaceae
- Supplier SKU
- Not recorded
- Listing group
- Regional / traditional food plant
- Mature height
- Up to 8 m
- Native states
- NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC
- Original list
- No
- Research date
- 10/10/2026
- Research notes
- Cultivar/form identity retained from earlier register; check supplier identification. 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
- Published food use; preparation detail review pending
- Fruiting season
- After flowering
- Background photo
- Not recorded
- Edible component
- Fleshy fruit stalk; not hard seed
- Flowering season
- Year-round, mainly October-May.
- Brief description
- Finely branched root-hemiparasitic shrub or tree with scale-like leaves.
- Drought tolerance
- Moderate to high with established hosts.
- Preparation notes
- Use only the ripe fleshy swollen fruit stalk; remove the separate drupe/seed.
- Flower description
- Minute flowers in short dense spikes or clusters.
- General cultivation
- General guidance (qualitative): Specialist trial requiring suitable host vegetation; fruit stalk must be distinguished from the seed.
- Botanical description
- Shrub or small tree to 8 m high with rounded or pyramidal crown, green or yellowish green. Bark tessellated, grey. Branchlets numerous, fine, striate, erect to pendulous. Leaves scale-like, thick, spreading, obtuse or acute, 0.5 mm long. Spikes to 6 mm long, mostly in uppermost axils; peduncle 1–2 mm long. Tepals 5, c. 0.3 mm long. Fruiting receptacle obovoid or ellipsoidal, 4–6 mm long, red; drupe ovoid or ellipsoidal, 4–5 mm long; tepals persistent.
- 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/Exocarpos%20cupressiformis Open source ↗
- Fruit type and description
- Edible fleshy red-yellow swollen stalk below a separate drupe; the stalk is the food part.
- Flora of Australia citation
- A.S. George. Exocarpos cupressiformis. 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/Exocarpos%20cupressiformis (accessed 2026-10-15). 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
- 15/10/2026