Language                                                Name

Noongar-Wudjari (W8):                         Tjiyok

Noongar-Nyoongar/Baaduk (W41):    Tjiyok 

Common name:                                      Emu Bush/Native Cherry

Scientific name:                                      Exocarpos sparteus

Group name for Plants

Wudjari:                                                    Dek

Nyoongar/Baaduk:                                 Dek

Looks like:                   
Wudjari: A shrub with drooping branches. The round fruit goes pink when ripe. Goes from green to yellow to watermelon pink. Fruit is tiny, like watermelon - very watery or jelly-like in the mouth.

Nyoongar: Leaves look like feathers of an emu, so it is sometimes called 'emu bush'. Hangs like the feathers on an emu's tail. Fruits are tiny. They start green then turn pink when ripe. 

Feels like:
Nyoongar: Leaves are long and soft like touching an emu feather. Fruit are smooth and squishy. The nipple at the end is woody - we don't eat this bit.

Smells like:                   
Wudjari: Sweet

Taste like:                   
Wudjari: Sweet /yummy

Nyoongar: Fruit is very small but sweet like a berry. 

Food:                            
Wudjari: The fruit is edible. Ready to eat when fruit turns pink.

Nyoongar: You eat the pink part of the little fruit and spit out the big seeds.

Medicine:

Other Uses:
Nyoongar: Emus are attracted to it - you could stand near it and wait for an emu to come and then hunt it.
 

Wudjari: On the coastline.
 

Nyoongar: Along the coast. Sometimes get them inland - towards Lake King, Lake Grace, Ngadji Ngadji country.

Wudjari: Fast growing. Very sought after - it is a delicacy.

Wudjari: Part of Lynette Knapp's family totem.
 

Nyoongar: One of the biggest totemic connections for a lot of Nyoongar and Baaduk people. They are an integral part of the moiety system of the shell people - on the southern coast.

Nyoongar: Fruit in Kambarang time - around November. 

Birak:                            
Wudjari: Fruit ready in Summer.
 

Boonaroo
 

Djeran
 

Mookaroo
 

Djilba
 

Kambarang
Nyoongar: Fruit in Kambarang time - around November.

Wudjari: Part of the Knapp family totem and it is everywhere on our country Mirnyingup.
 

Nyoongar: They are integral to the ecological system of Australia, and Taalyaraak country.

Wudjari: Also called Emu Bush.
 

Nyoongar: Associated with women and kids who love picking and eating it. Totemic. Provides shade for people.

Wudjari: Emus and birds love it.
 

Nyoongar: Weitj (emu) love this plant. Weitj come up to eat the leaves and people could knock them on the kaat (head) for a feed.

Nyoongar: All plants have a connection to the outer world. This one is connected to the weitj (emu) that lives in the dark spine of the milky way.

Wudjari: Discouraged from taking too much fruit at one time or breaking branches.
 

Nyoongar: Manage themselves. It is critical that you don’t snap off the branches when you are harvesting the fruit. Be careful how you handle the plant. It is essential to preserve these plants rather than clear land, because they only grow in certain areas.