Elaeocarpus Grandis

Blue Fig or Blue Quandong

Hi...this is a photo of one of my Blue Quandong trees. I purchased 6 of these along with an array of rain forest trees in 1993 with the intention of putting the canopy back in the surrounding areas of our property which was stripped of trees by the previous owners to grow Pineapples.

We had severe Lantana and woody weed infestations and the plantings had paid off after 5 short years.

I grew a lot of trees my self to replant as it takes a lot of trees to re-vegetate 11 acres.

This is one tree out of a few that I have,that I recommend if your in a hurry as it is fast growing , strong and a magnificent looking timber tree.

On Offer are 10 seeds picked OCT 2009 from the tree pictured above.

I haven't tried eating the flesh from the seed yet but I believe you can.

I do know that I would have tongue like a Blue tongue Lizard if I do, judging by the colour of my hands after I picked the seeds.

  Extract from a forum-Forget about eating them, but they are a beautiful tree for the regen. patch if you have one.

They also encourage a range of native pigeons

MY NOTES

Blue Quandong grows to a height of 35 metres with a prominently buttressed base, with an open layered crown.  Birds, such as cassowaries and rain forest pigeons, and marsupials are attracted to the bright blue fruits.  Aboriginals also ate the flesh of the fruits.  Loggers targeted this tree in the past because of its pale timber, as a consequence it was over-harvested at one stage. 

Leaves:  The leaves have a characteristic arrangement similar to a star-shape.  With age these leaves turn a bright scarlet, and then fall off the tree.  They are elliptic-shaped, about 10-17 in length and taper to a blunt point.
Flowers:  The flowers are bell-shaped, about 1cm long and have deeply fringed petals.  They form on the ends of the branches.  These flowers attract rainbow lorikeets and other birds, and appear from February to March. 
Fruit: The large bright blue fruits have a thin covering of flesh surrounding a seed that resembles a ‘brain’.  The fruits ripen between August to January. 

Blue Quandong grows in sub-tropical rain forests near watercourses. 

 
This species is a common component of rain forests from mid New South Wales to far north Queensland. 

GERMINATION NOTES

The Blue Quandong has really hard seed-coat, and the simplest way to break their dormancy is to put them in a tray of potting mix and keep them moist. If they are planted without breaking the seed-coat, they can take up to two years to germinate. The shortcut is to remove the actual seeds from inside the hard seed coat. After soaking the whole seed in water for a couple of weeks, You can use a macadamia nut-cracker to break the hard seed-coat open and removes the seeds.

Planting container: Sow the seeds into tubes rather than trays. "If you sow into a tray, it's not going to take long for the roots to reach the bottom and then they need to be potted on. With a tube, you've got a much greater depth, so you get a far better root structure developing for your future tree."  put potting mix into the tube and firm it down a little bit. "The idea is to firmly compact it, but still allow plenty of air and water to penetrate through which helps with germination."

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