Quinine Bush

Petalostigma – refers to the stigma which can be broadly flattened like a petal.

triloculare – Is derived from Latin and means three chambers, which in this case is obscure, as the fruit usually has four chambers. 

Description

• A small rainforest tree which also occurs in drier rainforest on sandy soil derived from granite or sandstone
  
• Grows to 5 m tall and found within Queensland and New South Wales
  
• The flowers are small and yellow in colour which appear summer and autumn
  
• The fruit are 10 mm in size, spherical and orange to red in colour
  
• The fruits open explosively, throwing out parts of the fruit as far as four metres away, and scattering the seeds more than two metres away
  
• Germination starts around five weeks and is complete after seven weeks
  

Human uses

The pounded fruit, along with leaves from other plants, were used as a fish poison to capture fish. The fruit was also used as a tooth paste due to its strong astringent taste.

 Acknowledgment: Mangroves to Mountains, Noosa Native Plants