CAT-00141
Native cherry
Exocarpos strictus
Catalog fields
- Genus
- Exocarpos
- Photo
- Not recorded
- Edible
- Yes
- layout
- single
- Habitat
- Grows in various habitats, including eucalypt forest and river banks.
- Published
- Yes
- Food group
- Fruit
- Latin name
- Exocarpos strictus
- Fruit photo
- Not recorded
- Plant title
- Native cherry
- Source URLs
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Exocarpos%20strictus | https://www.anbg.gov.au/apu/plants/exoccupr.html; https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?lvl=sp&name=Exocarpos~strictus&page=nswfl Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗ Open source 3 ↗
- Catalogue ID
- CAT-00141
- Mature width
- Not confirmed; allow spread appropriate to growth habit
- Native range
- Widespread in southeastern South Australia, Victoria, and eastern New South Wales, rare in southeast Queensland and Tasmania.
- Plant family
- Santalaceae
- Supplier SKU
- Not recorded
- Listing group
- Regional / traditional food plant
- Mature height
- Up to 3.5 m
- Native states
- NSW, SA, TAS, VIC
- Original list
- No
- Research date
- 10/10/2026
- Research notes
- Do not use this provisional entry as an eating guide. 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
- Provisional food-use report; confirm before use
- Fruiting season
- After flowering
- Background photo
- Not recorded
- Edible component
- Fleshy fruit stalk; not hard seed
- Flowering season
- Throughout year.
- Brief description
- Dense finely branched root-hemiparasitic shrub.
- Drought tolerance
- Not rated; depends on host and site.
- Preparation notes
- Edibility remains provisional for this species; do not transfer food advice from Exocarpos cupressiformis.
- Flower description
- Tiny flowers in small clusters.
- General cultivation
- General guidance (qualitative): Specialist trial requiring hosts; edible use remains provisional.
- Botanical description
- Shrub to 3.5 m high, light green to bronze-green. Stems usually finely branched but sometimes stout; branchlets angular, striate, erect or pendulous. Leaves subulate, 1–3 mm long, caducous. Flowers in sessile or shortly pedunculate clusters of 2–6. Tepals 4 or 5, triangular-ovate, almost acute, 0.5 mm long, greenish-yellow. Fruiting receptacle broadly obovoid, 2–4 mm long, red, white or mauve; drupe ovoid or globular, 2.5–4 mm long, shining; tepals caducous.
- 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%20strictus Open source ↗
- Fruit type and description
- Small drupe attached to a fleshy red-white-mauve stalk; edible use requires species-specific confirmation.
- Flora of Australia citation
- A.S. George. Exocarpos strictus. 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%20strictus (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