Australian Finger Lime

The Australian Fingerlime, Citrus australasica, is a small tree found on rainforest margins in New South Wales and Queensland. It has elongated fruits, in varying colours of red, green, yellow or brownish that are about 5 - 10 cms long.

The flower buds are quite striking and almost cover the tree in a tinge of red leading up to the bloom.

The bud opens to a small pretty citrus type flower, covering the plant.

This fruit has a distinct red tinge and in long and skinny.

There are numerous seeds inside the fruit.

The individual juice sacs are not joined together the way they are in an orange, so when you cut then open they spring out everywhere.

This fruit is edible and adds a nice tart citrus flavour to a cold glass of water for example, but they are becoming more available in nurseries and as condiments in restaurants.

It is a very attractive tree, a bit spindly, and very thorny, but has a nice red flush on new growth and the flowers look great. It seems reasonable frost hardy, but we don't bet heavy frost in Adelaide.

I would recommend this plant if you can find it.

Thanks for reading.