muntries / emu apple

Photo: Nadiatalent — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 8 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Small green-to-red berries tasting of spiced apple with a resinous edge — a genuine commercial Australian bush food, eaten fresh and in sauces. Care: Winter protection — mulch, fleece, or a warm wall.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Groundcover

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late summer–autumn

Mature size

Prostrate trailing evergreen 0.2–0.5 m tall, spreading 1–2 m; excellent in containers and hanging baskets

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

5.5–7.0 (acid–neutral; dislikes chalk)

Environment

Coastal dune and mallee scrub

Native range

South-eastern South Australia, western Victoria and adjacent coastal dune and mallee country

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

150 cm (59 in) apart — about 2.3 m² (24 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Small, alternate, mostly egg-shaped leaves 3–8 mm long on hairy stems, crowded along trailing branches.

Root system

Self-layering — the prostrate branches root where they touch the soil, so a plant advances as a rooted mat rather than from a single crown. Excellent for sand stabilisation and embankments, and the reason layering is the easiest way to increase it.

Fruit description

Fleshy, more or less spherical berry about 1 cm across, green flushing red, borne in clusters along the stems. Flavour is distinctive — spicy apple with a resinous note, sometimes described as apple-and-cinnamon — and antioxidant levels are well above blueberry. Ripens from late summer.

Propagation

Semi-hardwood cuttings about 10 cm long with the lower leaves stripped, dipped in hormone; expect 6–12 weeks to root. Simpler still, lift a naturally layered rooted branch. Seed works but is slow and variable.

Pollination

Self-fertile, better with a partner

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.