Blue quandong is a large buttressed rainforest tree from northeastern Australia, grown mainly in big gardens and parks rather than small home plots. Its key limitation is its huge eventual size, which makes it unsuitable near drains or in suburban gardens.
Family
Elaeocarpaceae (Elaeocarp family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Part shade
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist, especially when young, as it grows naturally along watercourses in wet rainforest.
Soil
Deep, fertile, moist well-drained soil.
Temperature
Warm, humid tropical to subtropical conditions; frost-sensitive, protect young trees from cold.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
N. & E. Queensland to E. New South Wales
Climate
wet tropical
About
Elaeocarpus grandis, commonly known as blue quandong, is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae first described in 1860. It is a large buttressed tree native to the coastal rainforests of northeastern Australia. The validity of this taxon is disputed, with some authorities accepting it and others presenting it as Elaeocarpus angustifolius.
How to grow it
The blue quandong is ideal for large gardens and parks, but its sheer size make it unsuitable for suburban home gardens or planting near drains. About 50 of these trees have been planted throughout the city of Cairns.
Where it grows
The blue quandong grows in well developed tropical and subtropical rainforest, often along watercourses. Its range is the coastal forests from the islands of the Torres Strait, through to the Nambucca River in northeastern New South Wales. In north Queensland the altitudinal range is from sea level to 1,100 m (3,600 ft).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Elaeocarpus grandis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.