Hard quandong
Elaeocarpus obovatus growing at Watagans National Park, Australia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Oxalidales
Family: Elaeocarpaceae
Genus: Elaeocarpus
Species:
E. obovatus
Binomial name
Elaeocarpus obovatus
Synonyms[1]
List
Leaves and immature fruit at Mount Mellum

Elaeocarpus obovatus, commonly known as hard quandong, blueberry ash, whitewood, grey carabeen, freckled oliveberry or gray carrobeen,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a tree with buttress roots at the base of the trunk, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, racemes of white flowers, and blue, oval fruit.

Description

Elaeocarpus obovatus is sometimes a small tree 3–10 m (9.8–32.8 ft) tall, and sometimes a tall tree growing to a height of 45 m (148 ft) with buttress roots at the base of a trunk that is up to 150 cm (59 in) in diameter. The outer bark is smooth, grey and thin with corky irregularities. The leaves are arranged alternately, egg-shaped to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 40–85 mm (1.6–3.3 in) long and 14–22 mm (0.55–0.87 in) wide on a petiole 2–6 mm (0.079–0.236 in) long. The edges of the leaves are wavy, scalloped or toothed and the midrib is raised on the upper and lower surfaces. The flowers are arranged in racemes of ten to twenty 40–80 mm (1.6–3.1 in) long, each on a pedicel 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long with four or five egg-shaped to triangular sepals 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long and 1–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) wide. The petals are white, egg-shaped to oblong and about the same size as the sepals with the tip divided into eight to ten lobes and there are about twenty very short stamens. Flowering occurs from late August to October and the fruit is a oval to elliptical blue drupe about 10 mm (0.39 in) long and 8 mm (0.31 in) wide, containing a single seed. Fruiting occurs in January to April.[2][3][4][5]

Taxonomy

Elaeocarpus obovatus was first formally described in 1831 by George Don in his book A General History of Dichlamydeous Plants.[6][7]

Distribution and habitat

Hard quandong is a tall tree in subtropical rainforest and a small to medium-sized tree in drier rainforest and occurs from Proserpine, Queensland (20° S) in to central-eastern Queensland south as far as Wyong (33° S) in New South Wales.[2][5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Elaeocarpus obovatus". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Elaeocarpus obovatus". Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  3. ↑ Hyland, Bernard; Coode, Mark J. (1984). "Elaeocarpus in Australia and New Zealand". Kew Bulletin. 39 (3): 533–538.
  4. ↑ F.A.Zich; B.P.M.Hyland; T.Whiffen; R.A.Kerrigan (2020). "Elaeocarpus obovatus". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  5. 1 2 Floyd, Alexander G. (1989). Rainforest trees of mainland South-eastern Australia. Melbourne: Inkata Press. p. 116. ISBN 0909605572.
  6. ↑ "Elaeocarpus obovatus". APNI. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  7. ↑ Don, George (1831). A General History of Dichlamydeous Plants. London: J.G. and F. Rivington,1831-1838. p. 559. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
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