n.
an Australian tree, Exocarpus cupressiformis, R. Br., N.O. Santalaceae.
1801. `History of New South Wales' (1818), p. 242:
«Of native fruits, a cherry, insipid in comparison of theEuropean sorts, was found true to the singularity whichcharacterizes every New South Wales production, the stone beingon the outside of the fruit.»
1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 411:
«The shrub which is called the native cherry-tree appears likea species of cyprus, producing its fruit with the stone unitedto it on the outside, the fruit and the stone being each aboutthe size of a small pea. The fruit, when ripe, is similar incolour to the Mayduke cherry, but of a sweet and somewhatbetter quality, and slightly astringent to the palate,possessing, upon the whole, an agreeable flavour.»
1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1851, p. 219:
«The cherry-tree resembles a cypress but is of a tenderergreen, bearing a worthless little berry, having its stone orseed outside, whence its scientific name of exocarpus.»
1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 33:
«We also ate the Australian cherry, which has its stone, not onthe outside, enclosing the fruit, as the usual phrase wouldindicate, but on the end with the fruit behind it. Thestone is only about the size of a sweet-pea, and the fruit onlyabout twice that size, altogether not unlike a yew-berry, butof a very pale red. It grows on a tree just like an arborvitae, and is well tasted, though not at all like a cherry inflavour.»
1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 40:
«The principal of these kinds of trees received its genericname first from the French naturalist La Billardiere, duringD'Entrecasteaux's Expedition. It was our common Exocarpuscupressiformis, which he described, and which has beenmentioned so often in popular works as a cherry-tree, bearingits stone outside of the pulp. That this crude notion of thestructure of the fruit is erroneous, must be apparent onthoughtful contemplation, for it is evident at the firstglance, that the red edible part of our ordinary exocarpusconstitutes merely an enlarged and succulent fruit-stalklet(pedicel), and that the hard dry and greenish portion,strangely compared to a cherry-stone, forms the real fruit,containing the seed.»
1889. J. H. `Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 30:
«The fruit is edible. The nut is seated on the enlargedsucculent pedicel. This is the poor little fruit of which somuch has been written in English descriptions of thepeculiarities of the Australian flora. It has been likened toa cherry with the stone outside (hence the vernacular name) bysome imaginative person.»
1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 19, p. 7, col. 1:
«Grass-trees and the brown brake-fern, whips of native cherry,and all the threads and tangle of the earth's green russetvestment hide the feet of trees which lean and lounge betweenus and the water, their leaf heads tinselled by the light.»