The World of Apples

The apples that aren't

Black apple

Planchonella australis, Sapotaceae

The black apple is a rainforest tree whose trunk, in larger trees, is strongly fluted and flanged at the base; its young stems bleed a milky latex when cut3. The fruit is plum-like, round or egg-shaped, 15 to 60 mm long, purplish or black and at first covered with a bloom, and holds two to five shiny brown seeds about 2 cm long; in New South Wales it ripens from September to November3. The tree grows in most kinds of warmer rainforest, widespread on the coast north from the Illawarra and in the Upper Hunter Valley, and in Queensland3; Kew gives eastern Australia2.

Its names cannot decide between apple and plum: black apple, wild plum and black plum, as well as yellow buttonwood and yellow bulletwood3. In 1898 Morris listed it as the black or brush apple, under its old name Achras australis4, which the New South Wales flora gives as a synonym3.

Sources

  1. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Planchonella australis, Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Supports: the accepted name and family.
  2. Plants of the World Online: Planchonella australis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: the accepted name and the native range, "E. Australia".
  3. Planchonella australis, PlantNET, National Herbarium of New South Wales. Supports: the names black apple, wild plum, black plum, yellow buttonwood and yellow bulletwood; the synonym Achras australis; the fluted trunk and milky latex; the fruit, its size, colour and seeds, ripe from September to November; warmer rainforest north from the Illawarra; Queensland.
  4. Austral English: a dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages, entry Apple and Apple-tree, Edward E. Morris, Project Gutenberg, 1898. Supports: the black or brush apple, Achras australis.