ROUND LIME (Gympie Lime or Dooja) Citrus australis

Description :  A bushy shrub or small tree to about 3 to 6 m in the garden. The branches are very prickly when young but less so as the tree matures.

The mature leaves are ovate, 3 x 2 cm, dark green and leathery with shortly scalloped margins. Seed grown plants are very slow to establish but budded stock can fruit within 2 or 3 years.

Flowers are fragrant, white to pinkish about 1 cm across with 4 to 5 petals

Fruits are globular to about 4 cm in diameter with an oily skin and a not very juicy flesh but full of flavour. Fruits are ripe from December to March when the skin turns greenish-yellow.

Uses : The Dooja fruit is very versatile in the kitchen with a distinctive and pleasant flavour. The flesh is dryer than the Tahitian lime but the whole fruit can be used as a flavouring in many dishes. It goes great with seafood and makes a tasty marmalade.

The Dooja is common in its native habitat of the Araucarian vine forests from Brisbane north to Gympie.