Terminalia ferdinandiana, most commonly known as the Kakadu plum and also called the gubinge, billygoat plum, green plum, salty plum, murunga, mador and other names, is a flowering plant in the family Combretaceae, native to Australia, widespread throughout the tropical woodlands from north-western Australia to eastern Arnhem Land. Used as a traditional bush food and bush medicine for centuries, the fruit has especially high levels of vitamin C. Description Terminalia ferdinandiana is a slender, small to medium-sized tree growing up to in height, with creamy-grey, flaky bark and deciduous pale green leaves. The flowers are small, creamy-white, perfumed, and borne along spikes in the leaf axils towards the ends of the branches. Flowering is from September to December or February (Southern hemisphere spring/summer). The leaf blades are strongly discolorous with a broadly elliptic to broadly ovate, occasionally obovate shape and are in length with a width of and have a rounded apex. The inflorescences are long and are glabrous throughout. The fruit is yellow-green, about long and in diameter, almond-sized with a short beak at the tip, and contain one large seed. They ripen from March onwards, with the ripe fruits being very pale, sometimes pinkish. The species epithet "ferdinandiana" was created by A.W. Exell in honour of the first European botanist to collect and describe Kakadu plum, Ferdinand Mueller, who had originally given the species the nomen illegitimum (illegitimate name), Terminalia edulis. Range and habitat The tree is widespread throughout the tropical woodlands from northwestern Australia to eastern Arnhem Land. It is found along the coast in the Kimberley region of Western Australia as far west as Broome extending east into the Northern Territory where it is found mostly in the western portion of the top end from the Western Australian border to Arnhem Land but is found as far east as Limmen National Park. It grows in a variety of habitat including sandplains, floodplains, creek beds, ridges, among vine thickets and on the edges of areas of mangroves. It grows in sandy, peaty or clay soils around sandstone or ironstone, and is often found as part of eucalypt communities. Ecology The Kakadu plum provides food for important small mammals such as possums, rock rats, tree rats, and bandicoots. Since demand has increased for the fruit for human consumption, careful management is necessary to ensure its sustainability. Uses Traditional uses The fruit has been used as bush tucker or