Green kangaroo apple facts for kids

The green kangaroo apple (scientific name: Solanum vescum) is a small shrub that grows tasty fruits. It is also known as gunyang. This plant belongs to the Solanaceae family, which includes tomatoes and potatoes. You can find it growing naturally in eastern and southeastern Australia.

How It Got Its Name

The green kangaroo apple was first officially described in 1855. A government botanist from Victoria, named Ferdinand von Mueller, found and studied it. He collected the plant near the mouth of the Snowy River.

The second part of its scientific name, vescum, comes from a Latin word. It means "edible," which tells us that its fruit can be eaten.

What Does It Look Like?

The green kangaroo apple is a soft, green shrub. It usually grows to be about 1 or 2 m (3.3 or 6.6 ft) tall. Unlike some other plants in the Solanum family, this one does not have any sharp spines.

When the plant is young, its leaves are oval-shaped. They have three or four deep cuts, or lobes, and can be quite large. They measure about 15 to 30 cm (5.9 to 11.8 in) long and 11–24 cm (4.3–9.4 in) wide. As the plant gets older, its leaves become narrower and shaped like a spear. These adult leaves might not have any lobes at all, which is unusual for a Solanum plant, or they might have a few on each side.

Small purple flowers appear on the plant during winter and spring. After the flowers, round fruits grow. These fruits are yellowish or ivory-green and are about 2–2.5 cm (0.79–0.98 in) wide. They often have streaks on them and grow in bunches of 5 to 20.

Where It Grows

You can find the green kangaroo apple in many parts of eastern Australia. Its range stretches from southeastern Queensland through eastern and central New South Wales. It also grows in Victoria and even down into Tasmania. In New South Wales, its westernmost locations are near the towns of Moree and Narrabri.

This shrub often grows in the understory of forests. The understory is the layer of plants that grows beneath the main canopy of trees. It can be found in different types of forests, including rainforests and both wet and dry sclerophyll forests. Sclerophyll forests are common in Australia and have trees like eucalypts with tough, hard leaves.

A Special Plant for Indigenous People

The green kangaroo apple was an important food source for the Gunai people of Gippsland, a region in Victoria. They would eat the fruit of this plant.

Interestingly, the plant grows very well from seeds after a bushfire. The local Indigenous people understood this. They would use controlled burns, which are small, carefully managed fires, to help the green kangaroo apple grow and produce more fruit. This shows their deep knowledge of the land and its plants.