Scientific Name: Gossia bidwillii (was Austromyrtus bidwillii)

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  • Pronunciation:
    GOSS-ee-ah bid-WILL-ee
  • Common Name:
    Python Tree, Ironwood
  • Derivation:
    Bidwillii after after Bidwill, John Carne (1815 - 1853), botanist and collector. First arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, in September 1838. Visited New Zealand (Bay of Plenty and central North Island) from 5 February until April 1839, and again in 1840, and Moreton Bay, Queensland, in 1841, before returning to England in 1843. He returned to Sydney in 1844, travelling from there to New Zealand in the same year and Tahiti in 1845. First Director of Botanic Gardens, Sydney, and Government Botanist, (September1847–January 1848). Commissioner of Crown Lands, Wide Bay, Queensland (then N.S.W.) from 1848. Collected extensively, and published the first account of the Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii). He sent many living plants and seeds to various gardens in England, including Kew, and advised William Macarthur, among others, on the introduction of plants to the colony of New South Wales. He was also an accomplished plant hybridiser. He established a botanical garden in Tinana, Qld, a suburb of Maryborough. (BRAIN)
  • Type:
    Tree
  • Family:
    MYRTACEAE
  • Flowers:
    White, single or clustered on stalks from leaf axils from October-December
  • Fruit:
    Edible. Ripe fruit are sweet. Birds eat the ripe fruit. Fruit is a black globular berry to 6mm in diameter ripe from January-May
  • Vegetation Type:
    dry and subtropical rainforest
  • Species List:
    Kennilworth Fig Tree Walk, Bush food, Upper Yandina Creek, Dandaloo, Regional Ecosystem 12.8.13. Regional Ecosystem 12.9-10.16. Regional Ecosystem 12.9-10.16x1.
Cultural Notes

TAKE CARE! Some information about bush foods and medicines may be anecdotal. Correct identification and preparation is essential: ||Edible. Ripe fruit are sweet.||

Identification Notes

Bendy, strikiongly mottled green and brown trunk, with a cool, smooth feel.||Leaves are almost round, very smooth and shiny, and have a strong somewhat cinnamon smell when crushed. ||

Associated Fauna

Birds eat the ripe fruit.||

Landscaping Notes

Landscaping potential in suitable areas. Bushy small tree with attractive blotch bark. Needs shade or part shade and well drained soil.||Successfully propagated by Mooloolah Native Nursery||Successfully propagated by Barung Landcare||