​Fruits of the forest

This is the strychnine tree! The aboriginals boil the bark
and use to heal skin sores and scabies.

Figs are the main fruit of the monsoon forests and are food for lots of creatures. The leaves of one fig tree, the sandpaper fig, are used by local aboriginals in days gone by as sandpaper to polish wooden implement such as spears and didgeridoo.
The cabbage palms in Kakadu, Mataranka and in Katherine gorge and a few other places up the Top End are relics of a warmer wetter Australia. They are a subspecies of the rare and precious red cabbage palms of the Finke river and Palm valley in central Australia. Sand palms, a smaller species, also belong to the same family. The hearts of these and other palms (the new tender growing shoot) can be eaten. I tried some when we were on Cobourg Peninsula. Not a lot of taste eaten raw but would be ok tucker. One down side is that when the heart is plucked the palm dies. In some areas the palm is sacred which I guess preserves a significant number.
I have learned so many fascinating bits and pieces. For instances when the white flowers bloom on the whitewood tree it's an indicator that the freshwater crocs are laying their eggs. This is good bush tucker. Paperbark trees or bits of them have a range of uses. The bark is used to wrap food in to cook, to make shelters, to line baby's baskets, etc. and the leaves are used also in cooking as well as to make a skin wash.
I have seen many trees with pretty orange fruits. Some of course were figs but I discovered that the tree is called the strychnine tree, Strychnos Lucida. The fruit and bark are used to treat various skin rashes including scabies.
If there were a course on botany/ethnobotany, bush tucker and medicine I'd sign up tomorrow.