Kakadu Plum

Kakadu plum, or Terminalia ferdinandiana, is a small deciduous tree found growing wild extensively throughout the subtropical woodlands of the Northern Territory and Western Australia.It bears abundant crop of small plum-like fruits.

History

While the fruit has been used by native Australians for millennia, its use in the rest of the world is relatively novel because it was unknow until a botanist excursion in the 1980s discovered its Vitamin C concentration.

This trip put it on the map and started a race to commercialize it, even leading to Mary Kay Inc. attempting to patent the plant and start a plantation in South America.

Fortunately, this attempt was ultimately unsuccessful and today many local communities are still involved in fruit harvesting which for the most part takes place in the wild on Indigenous-owned land.

Harvest

Depending on the region of Australia Kakadu Plums are harvested from January to late May from the trees by hand and is immediately frozen to retain its high levels of Vitamin C.

Anatomy

Kakadu Plum is a slender, small to medium-size tree that grows up to 46 feeft. It has creamy-gray bark and deciduous pale green leaves. The yellow-green fruit measures an inch long and .5 inch in and diameter and contains one large seed in the center.

Etymology

The species epithet, Terminalia ferdinandiana, was given to it by A.W. Exell in honor of Ferdinand Mueller who was the first European botanist to collect and describe the plum.