Cheese Tree

Appearance

It grows as a woody shrub or small tree to 8 metres, although occasionally reaching 30 metres, with flaky brownish-grey bark. It has simple alternate-arranged elliptical leaves 3–10 centimetres in length and 1.5–4 centimetres wide; the species may be partly deciduous in winter.

Flowering may occur at any time of year; the cheese tree has both single female and male flowers, which are found in groups of three. Both sexes are green-yellow, with the male flowers about 0.7 cm and the female 0.5 cm in diameter. The most notable feature are the small pumpkin-shaped fruit, which are green at first before turning shades of white and pink. Divided into segments radially, they eventually split open to reveal bright red 0.5 cm seeds from November to April.

Naming

The name "cheese tree" comes from its fruit's resemblance to small cheese wheels. Other common names include water gum, button wood, pencil cedar, and "jow-war".

The species was originally described by Swiss botanist Johannes Müller Argoviensis in 1865 as "Phyllanthus ferdinandi" before being given its current binomial name by Frederick Manson Bailey in 1902. Its specific epithet honours Victorian State Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller. Note that the specific name is spelled with a single or double "i" by various sources.

An uncommon variety, "pubens", known as the hairy cheese tree, is smaller, with leaves and fruit finely hairy.

Distribution

It is found from central Queensland to the vicinity of Ulladulla in southern New South Wales.

Habitat

The cheese tree grows in both clay and sandy soils, and is found in rainforest and wetter areas in sclerophyll forest, where it may be associated with such species as bangalay, woollybutt, forest red gum thin-leaved stringybark and swamp she-oak. The hairy cheese tree grows with magenta lilly pilly, broad-leaved paperbark, and "Rhodomyrtus" species.

Uses

The dried fruits, which resemble miniature pumpkins, are found in potpourri and sold as "putka pods".