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Grewia retusifolia

Grewia retusifolia
Photo: Mark Marathon, CC BY-SA 3.0

Grewia retusifolia is a tropical shrub in the mallow family, widespread across eastern and northern Australia and parts of Asia. It is grown for its small, sweet, two-lobed fruit, which is typically boiled into a drink, and it tolerates a range of tropical conditions.

Family
Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then let the top of the soil dry slightly between waterings.
Soil
Well-drained loam or sandy soil.
Temperature
18–32 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
China (S. Guangxi) to Jawa and N. Australia
Climate
wet tropical

About

Grewia retusifolia is a shrub species in the family Malvaceae. Common names include dysentery bush, emu-berry, dog's balls, turkey bush and diddle diddle. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical areas of Eastern Australia and Northern Western Australia. The species produces small, sweet, two-lobed fruit with a fibrous acidic pulp surrounding the seeds. Leichhardt described the fruits as having a very agreeable taste, which could be boiled to make a refreshing drink. Indigenous Australians use the bark and leaves in medications. The crushed leaves were used as a poultice to relieve toothaches.

Other Grewia plants

Grewia aldabrensis · Phalsa · White raisin · Grewia bilocularis · Grewia bulot · Grewia emarginata · Grewia ferruginea · Brandy Bush · Donkey Berry · Grewia glandulosa · Grewia goetzeana · Giant raisin

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Grewia retusifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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