Dhurangal Marawili
Wuŋapu
80 x 48cm

ID: 4749-24

This is a distinctive shrub as the leaves are very dark olive. Underneath the leaf is velvety and silvered. The fruit looks like a Kalamata olive and has a delicious rich coffee taste. The fruit is delicious and highly sought after by birds as well as people. It has a very cryptic way of growing its fruit under the leaf or in unexpected places. You have to handle the branches and push and pull them to reveal the hidden fruit. This normally means getting green ants on you. The difficulty and satisfaction of finding the Wuŋapu fruit combined with its special taste makes children very proud when they come back from the bush with the tell-tale purple tongue that marks a successful mission. It is rare to find a tree with lots of fruit and much more likely to get one or two off each tree as you move between them. Old soft drink bottles are the usual receptacle for collecting such fruit as Wuŋapu or Munydjutj.

Below is the Yolŋu dictionary entry for wuŋapu.

Meaning: tree – edible purple fruit Wild Prune, Pouteria sericea.
A synonym of wuŋapu is: buŋaḻati, ḏatitji, milmulu.