Davidsonia pruriens

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:        Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids  > Oxalidales > Cunoniaceae > Davidsonia  pruriens

Other links:     

Plant  information

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

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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:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davidsonia_pruriens (Jan 2024)

• https://www.rarefruitclub.org.au/DavidsonsPlum.htm (Jan 2024)

• https://agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/17-030.pdf (dated Jan 2017)