Prickly Geebung

~ Persoonia juniperina ~

PROTEACEAE

This peeled-banana-like bellflower boasts an edible bulbous fruit with insides like sweet cottonwool. Its fruit has been a source of food for the First Nations People of the south-east. The sweet fruit has a hard stony seed inside it, which has been known to germinate after being eaten and ‘spread’ by emus and possums. Other faithful fauna are Persoonia Bees (Leioproctus), who are professional pollinators of the Geebung’s flowers. They have evolved delicately long front limbs to fish for pollen and flat heads to squeeze into the nectar chamber at the base of the flower. Birds are also huge fans of the berries, and honeyeaters, like the Eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris) illustrated here, use their long beaks to slurp nectar from the tubular yellow flowers. Persoonias also have the fun common name of Snottygobbles.

WHERE TO LOOK

This prickly number enjoys its temperate zones and can be found in the mainland’s south-east corner. Its favoured habitats are sandy soils along the coast, open heathy woodlands, sclerophyll forests and near coastal ranges.

Locations → Victoria: Wilsons Promontory National Park, Anglesea Heath, Ocean Grove Nature Reserve and Cape Liptrap Coastal Park; Tasmania: South Bruny Island; SA: Mount Billy Conservation Park.

FEATURES

The Prickly Geebung is a spiky 30cm–2m shrub with a bushy appearance. Everything is quite compact and small on this plant. Its stiff and narrow leaves are bright green and 8–35 mm, matched only by the bright yellow of its tubular flower measuring 9–13mm, featuring four enticing segments that peel back when the flower opens. Quiet little white hairs cling to this plant and its succulent round fruits can be yellowish-green to indigo and 6–10mm in size.

FLOWERING SEASON

Summer → The warm yellow flower can be expected sometime between December and March. In some places you might see a May flower.

TRADITIONAL USES

The fibrous sweet pulp of its fruit is eaten and certain species of Geebung have been used to make string and fishing line, which are soaked in a Geebung bark infusion.

PLANTING

Originating from the south, the Geebung is frost tolerant and a lover of well-drained sandy soils in full sun. Seeds and plants are not widely available but can be found in specialty nurseries in its endemic states. There are local Persoonia species available in all non-arid regions.