Tabernaemontana elegans fruit husk

The unusually shaped, paired fruit pods of Tabernaemontana elegans attract much attention. Their appearance earned the tree its common name of toad tree.

The two halves are only joined at the base, ovoid to globose, pendulous on long pedicels. Each has two lateral ridges and one on the back, the tip curved into a beak-like front. The surface has corky, wart-like protuberances. These warts are initially grey while the rest of the surface is green, turning brownish when the fruits are ripe and split open. A bright orange pulp is exposed in which many brown seeds are embedded.

The dry, empty fruit husks remain dangling from the tree, open like gaping frogs, long after the seeds have been dispersed. They may even be seen among the new season’s growth.

The fruit pulp that is edible has also been used as a styptic, to contract injured tissue, to stop bleeding and to curdle milk (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Pooley, 1993; iNaturalist).