Cassowary plum

Description:

The cassowary plum (otherwise known as grey milkwood, brebong, biegbau, babai) is a species of Cerbera native to New Guinea and Tropical North Queensland in Australia. A favourite food of Tropical North Queensland’s iconic flightless bird, the Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), is the aptly named Cassowary Plum (Cerbera floribunda). The fruit is egg shaped, large, smooth, and blue. Cassowaries commonly eat cassowary plums, hence the name. The plums' sap is poisonous to most animals, including humans, but not cassowaries, which consume the fruit with no ill effects, because of their short and fast digestive system, which passes the fruit relatively intact. The cassowary plum is related to Frangipani (Plumeria alba). It can grow to about 30 meters. At three years old, it begins to produce white flowers with red centers, which become the signature fruits.