Elaeocarpus eumundi
| Elaeocarpus eumundi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Elaeocarpus eumundi - new growth | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Oxalidales |
| Family: | Elaeocarpaceae |
| Genus: | Elaeocarpus |
| Species: | E. eumundi |
| Binomial name | |
| Elaeocarpus eumundi F.M.Bailey | |
Elaeocarpus eumundi is a mid-sized rainforest tree of eastern Australia. It grows from the Richmond River, New South Wales to the McIllwraith Range at Cape York Peninsula. This tree is considered rare in New South Wales.[1] Commonly known as the Eumundi Quandong, or Smooth Leafed Quandong. Elaeocarpus eumundi grows on warm temperate, riverine, and tropical rainforests.
Description
Elaeocarpus eumundi can reach to 30 metres (98 feet) tall, and 50 cm (20 in) in trunk diameter in the wild, but is much smaller in cultivation. The outer bark is fairly smooth, grey in colour with corky bumpy irregularities. The trunk is buttressed at the base.
Alternate glossy leaves are bunched together at the ends of branches. Margins bluntly toothed in the leaf's upper half, though sometimes not toothed at all. Leaves of varying shapes, often obovate, 7 to 13 cm long with a long tip. Leaf venation is conspicuous and raised on both the upper and lower surface.
Cream and scented flowers form on racemes between November and December. The fruit is a blue drupe 14 to 18 mm long. The egg shaped fruit contains a rough hard centre with one or two seeds. Fruiting occurs in May to June. Like many Australian Elaeocarpus trees, germination is slow and difficult, however cuttings prove more successful.
Uses
Well suited as an ornamental tree.
References
- Floyd, A.G., Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia, Inkata Press 1989, ISBN 0-909605-57-2 page 113