Kakadu Plum is a small native Australian fruit that has quietly become one of the most talked-about ingredients in natural skincare. If you have seen it on an ingredient list and wondered what it actually is, here is the short version.
A fruit from the far north
Kakadu Plum (botanical name Terminalia ferdinandiana) grows wild across the tropical woodlands of northern Australia. It is also known as gubinge or billygoat plum. The fruit is small, pale green, and tart, with a single stone in the centre. Indigenous Australians have used it for thousands of years, both as a food and in traditional care.
Why it matters: vitamin C
Kakadu Plum is best known for one thing. It is one of the richest natural sources of vitamin C in the world, carrying around one hundred times the vitamin C of an orange by weight. That is what moved it from a bush food to a sought-after skincare ingredient.
Vitamin C is valued in skincare as an antioxidant, which means it helps support skin against the everyday stress of a harsh environment. Australia’s climate is about as harsh as environments get, so there is a certain logic to a fruit that thrives in it.
Grown somewhere brutal
Part of what makes Kakadu Plum interesting is where it comes from. It survives in one of the hottest, most sun-exposed parts of the country. A plant that produces this much antioxidant content in those conditions is doing something worth paying attention to.
Kakadu Plum in Kessine
Kessine is built around Kakadu Plum, alongside two other Australian native botanicals, Davidson Plum and Rosella. Together they bring a natural antioxidant profile to the serum, which is paired with Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, a stable form of vitamin C that holds up well over the life of the bottle.
The result is a fragrance-free facial serum that carries a genuine sense of where it comes from. Not a lab ingredient flown in from elsewhere, but an Australian native fruit in an Australian-made product.
If you want to see how we use it, Kessine Kakadu Plum Vitamin C Serum is available now.