Davidsonia pruriens
Queensland Davidson's plum
Queensland Davidson's plum
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids > Oxalidales > Cunoniaceae > Davidsonia pruriens
Other links:
Common name: Queensland Davidson's Plum
Also, Davidson's plum
The indigenous name - ooray - is being increasingly used by growers and processors
Conservation status: . . .
Etymology:
Named after John Ewen Davidson (1841-1923) who arrived in Cardwell in December 1865 with the view of establishing a sugar cane planation in Rockingham Bay; the naming probably arose from the chance meeting between Dallachy and Davidson, during the time when Dallachy made the first herbarium collection of D. pruriens
The species name pruriens is based on the latin word prurio meaning ‘to itch’, referring to the fine hairs on the leaves and fruit, which can cause itchiness
Flowers:
Fruit:
Edible and dark burgundy coloured
Produced in large clusters from the branches or the trunk
Leaves:
The leaves are large and compound
Stem & branches:
Roots:
Habit:
A medium sized tree (< 15 m)
Habitat:
Rainforests
Distribution:
Northern Queensland
Additional notes:
There are at least two distinct forms (hairy or smooth), with a suggestion that one of these is an undescribed species
Similarities and distinguishing features:
Both D pruriens and D jerseyana have dense crowns of compound leaves and tree parts of both are covered with long irritant bristly hairs
D pruriens is a slender upright tree to 15m high, while D jerseyana is a bush, 6-8m high with several branching slender stems
Seedling leaves are simple when young alternately imparipinnate when adult with a scarcely (D pruriens) and prominent (D jerseyana) winged rachis, dentate margins, and 8-15 oblong-obovate pinnae with the upper surface glossy green and lower dull, the terminal ones being largest
Adult leaves are 50-100 and 30-70cm long in D pruriens and D jerseyana respectively
Both species are diploid (ie two complete sets of chromosomes)
Sources of information: