Grewia breviflora (Coffee Fruit)

Grewia breviflora commonly known as Currant or Coffee Fruit is a lage shrub that grows up to 8m, the bark is greyish brown, leaves are a light lime green colour and the flowers are bright yelow  or creamish colour with hairy stems and lime green leaves with prominent veins on the underside.Tradionally the fruit is harvested direct from the tree and eaten raw when ripe. The wood is also used for spear making. This plant is commonly found in vine thickets along the coast of the Dampier Peninsula including Djarindjin Lombadina, One Arm Point and James Price Point and also in the Broome Peninsula.

Lu Post – Jan 2012

The fruit is among my favourites of the monsoon vine thicket bush fruit ive tried to date! Ive been stalking this plant for a few years now trying to get some good photos and of the fruits, leaves and flowers, with some good ones only over the last few weeks, much further south and around Broome.

I have found aged Grewia growing near Tappers inlet as large, shady trees, full of new growth and surrounded in a deep leaf litter with many new plants germinating underneath. See below pictures:

It was interesting as the Broome plants seemed like much smaller shrubs, while the Tappers plants were more like a small rainforest tree. You can see here a close up of the flowers, leaves and buds.

Photos taken by Louise Beames