billy goat plum (dry country)

A favoured fruit, eaten in kurrung. Generally collected from the ground.

The clear red fresh gum (an-kurrk) is eaten. It has the consistency of soft jelly and is tasteless. It is also said to be eaten by namarnde (malignant spirits). Older gum can be heated on the coals to soften; a pigment binder for bark paintings; to secure peg of spearthrower although the gum of ironbark is preferred bark; dissolved with plant dyes making a varnish-like liquid which was applied by means the soft an-dad brush made from the roots of pandanus aquaticus (an-djimdjim) to previously decorated fighting sticks, spears and spearthrowers.
Wood of young trees used to make fighting sticks (baku) and digging sticks (kun-barlkbu / kun-djadj).
Preferred firewood (kun-rerrng) to cook fish on and in stone ovens (kun-kerri).

Small to moderate sized deciduoustree usually to 6 m high, all parts densely hairy, bark: grey, finely fissured, flaking to reveal pale orange inner bark. Leaves spirally arranged, crowded towards ends of branchlets, elliptic to oval to almost circular, blade 50-160 mm long x 40-105 mm wide, densely hairy both sides. Flowers small, creamy-green, 3-5 mm diameter, on dense hairy spikes. Fruit a fleshy densely hairy ovoid to ellipsoid drupe, 14-37 mm long x 12-15 mm diameter, sometimes with a short beak, yellow-green when ripe. Found in lowland and sandstone open woodland and forest, rocky slopes and rock outcrops.

Small to moderate sized deciduous spreading tree with rounded crown, usually to 6 m high but can grow to 15 m, all parts densely hairy with edible hairy green fruits from yekke to kurrung seasons. In Kundjeyhmi there are two names for this tree an-mobban is the variety that grows in the rock country and an-marabula is said to grow in the savanna whilst in other Bininj Kunwok dialects it is called man-mobban in any environment. Red gum exudate an-kurrk may be eaten raw or lightly cooked.