'GAMILAROI' EMU APPLE (Owenia acidula) Seeds

Emu apple is an attractive, small tree growing 3 - 10 metres tall with a rounded crown and pendent branches. Alternate name(s) gruie, sour plum, sour apple, gooya, colane. The Aboriginal names for the Owenia acidula plant are Gamilaraay, Gamilaroi, or Kamilaroi

A very distinctive tree common around the highlands on most soil types. Emu Apple takes it's name from the golf-ball sized fruits it bears, Acidula from Latin meaning a little sour; referring to the fruit which are edible and have a sour flavor.

Male and female flowers on separate plant. Flowering between November and December. Fruits are round purplish-red fruit to 4 cm wide with a large stone-like seed. Owenia acidula is a prolific producer of fruit which are simply gathered off the ground or from the trees at ripening time.

Bush food: Collect fruits that are purplish-red in colour. The fruit will ripen further after coming off the tree. 

Germination: These seeds are notoriously hard to germinate, unless the seed has been through the stomach of a bird eg emu, cassowary, goose. though have a long viability. One method is to crack the shell of the nut and expose the kernel to a stream of ethylene gas for 3 minutes. Ethyrel, a chemical used by the orchardists to cause fruit to ripen evenly, is also supposed to work. 

A second method is to Pack a polystyrene box with "hot" (active) compost and plant the seed. When there is a distinct smell of onions, turn the box upside down and carefully remove the compost from what was the bottom until you reach the first roots, then carefully pick out the germinated seed and pot up.