Continue on from the Weeping Lilly Pilly and follow the path to the next junction and in the garden bed directly ahead of you, you will find the Native Quince or Smooth Rambutan (Alectryon subcinereus) a close relative to the Lychee. It has striking red and black seeds which roped from April to October and it naturally occurs in various rainforests from Victoria to Queensland.
“Frog’s eyes. That’s what they call me. Little frog’s eyes. I know - not very nice, is it? Harsh but kinda true, I guess. I mean check out my leaves. Do you see them? Hmm, I guess they do look like frog eyes. What do you think?”
Transcript
The Native Quince tree: "Frog’s eyes. That’s what they call me. Little frog’s eyes. I know - not very nice, is it? Harsh but kinda true, I guess. I mean check out my leaves. Do you see them? Hmm, I guess they do look like frog eyes. What do you think? Anyways, have you ever heard of a quince? Not a prince – a quince. Well, I have. I am a quince. A native quince. Also, a fun fact about me is that my cousin is the lychee – bet you didn’t know that. The more you learn, I guess!
Want to know another fun fact? I love books. I’m happy not to be one of course – you now how books are made of trees because they need paper… but anyways, more about books now. I love a good story. Especially a sad romance. The type of sad romance story is what I like are kind of like… wait, wait, I got one. Maybe there’s a couple and they get separated and then they finally find each other after like two or four years…or maybe there’s a rich girl, poor boy and they fall in love but the girl’s parents don’t except the boy cause he’s poor. Or one of my favourites, enemies to lovers… oooh they always have a good story type or a good story line. But nothing ever beats a good cup of tea and a good book.
Oh, talking about tea the best tea is Myrtle’s. Do you know Myrtle? She’s the head of the BWA, it’s short for the Botanical Women’s Association. It’s basically just a bunch of older female trees, anyway more about Myrtle, she’s in a bed over that way towards the Kauri pine. She’s always sending me little sweet treats through the soil. She really is a lovely old thing.
Let’s talk about the view that I can see. It’s not that bad of a view; not every tree can say that they have a water view. Oh, and another good thing is that I’m right next to Black bean. We are buddies for life. You should actually go and say hello to him now. He’s just next door."
