Collected 1770: Endeavour River
Observed 2019: Mt Molloy
Persoonia falcata grows as a woody shrub or small tree. The artist has depicted the long slender curving leaves with accompanying flowers and fruit in a warm, vibrant and open composition. Intense textural details draw the viewer’s eye inwards for sustained appreciation.
The pale green, round fruits have a sweet tasting, fibrous pulp, which is a bit like eating sweet cotton wool, and is a popular Indigenous food. The tree’s papery grey to plum coloured bark is much sought after by Indigenous bark painters.
Indigenous peoples use a solution infused with wood and bark as an eye wash, and drink an infusion from the leaves to treat chest colds and diarrhoea. Leaves could also be applied to circumcision wounds; and the wood used for making woomeras and boomerangs.