Blue Tongues & Billy Goat Plums

No it’s not what you think I’m not talking about lizards and goats I talking mayi/food of course…….

First off I wanted to show you a picture of the Billy goat plums or Cocky apples (Planchonia careya) I picked these early so they are green as in not ripe because I was worried I would miss the season because I’m leaving now so I picked a handful to show you what they look like. I haven’t really eaten them yet so cant say how they taste I will experiment with them next year when back up this way.

Next is the blue tongue (Melastoma malabathricum) this is a gorgeous native shrub with pinkish soft purple flowers and after the flower has finished it produces an unusual looking berry tasting fruit, this is the closest fruit to a berry that I have found they are yummy and yes they do stain your mouth and fingers black hence their common name but the staining isn’t much different than from black berries and mulberries I guess.

I put these into a smoothy and it made it go purple and they gave it a zingy berry taste, you find these along road sides mostly so they are easy to pick and if you wanted to plant native food plants this one would be useful and very pretty and I’m sure the birds in your area would love you for it too so win win for all.