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It's a long time since I've poked around in my front yard which is full of sandflies, ticks and mosquitoes: or at least that's my excuse. I was prompted by the need to spray knee-high grass. I found two dead trees, and another challenged one, and while I was being sand-flied around the ankles I noticed that the bolwarra was flowering, something I had never seen before.

The bolwarra (its Aboriginal name, meaning either “high”, or “flash of light”, or who knows what?) is a rainforest tree with an ancient lineage. This one's been in my front yard since the rainforest makeover about ten years ago. Its common names are native guava or copper laurel: I'm a fan of common names because they aren't subject to the name changes brought about by taxonomy wars. In this case they hint at its edibility – the sweet, aromatic fruit can be used as a spice-fruit in beverages, jams and desserts; and at the botanical name, Eupomatia laurena.

The flowers have a distinctive ether-like perfume (I've heard it called sewer-like) and each one only lasts a day. They are pollinated by small brown weevils – I spotted one in action, but the camera didn't: a rare occasion when I saw more than the lens.