Elaeocarpus reticulatus

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids  > Oxalidales > Elaeocarpaceae > Elaeocarpus  reticulatus

Other links:     

Plant  information

Common name:                Blueberry Ash  

• Also, ash quandong, blue olive berry, fairy petticoats, fringe tree, koda, lily of the valley tree and scrub ash

Conservation status:  unknown

Etymology:   

• The specific epithet (reticulatus) means "with the appearance of a net"

Flowers:                  

• Racemes of white or pink flowers and blue

• The flowers are arranged in racemes up to 50–80 mm long, with between five and ten flowers, each on a pedicel 4–8 mm long

• The five sepals are narrow triangular 5–6 mm long and about 1 mm wide

• The five petals are white, sometimes pinkish, 6–7 mm long and about 2 mm wide, the tip with between seven and ten linear lobes

• There are between thirteen and fifteen stamens and the style is 3–4 mm long

• Flowering occurs from October to January 

Fruit:                         

• Oval to spherical fruit

• It is a more or less spherical, oval or elliptical blue drupe about 12 mm

Leaves:         

• The leaves are simple, (strictly compound with only one leaflet), oblong to elliptic

• Mostly 50–130 mm long and 10–40 mm wide on a petiole 5–20 mm long

• The leaves are more or less glabrous, often turn red before falling

• They have regular teeth along the edges

• It has small domatia and a prominent network of veins on both surfaces

Stem & branches: 

• x

Roots:         

• x

Habit:        

• A shrub or small tree 

• Typically grows to a height of 3–10 m, but up to 30 m in some situations

• Has a lignotuber at its base

Habitat:   

• It often grows in tall eucalypt forest, in or near rainforest, often in moist gullies, but also found on stony ridges

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to eastern Australia

• It occurs along the east coast of Australia from Fraser Island in Queensland to Flinders Island in Tasmania

• In NSW it is found from sea level to the ranges and in Victoria to the east of Wilsons Promontory where it is often locally common

Species:                     

• World:            S,    G

• Australia:      S,    G

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • It was first formally described in 1809 by James Edward Smith in Abraham Rees's The Cyclopaedia from specimens collected near Port Jackson by John White

• Ecology

  • The fruits are eaten by birds, including wonga pigeons, crimson rosellas, figbirds, white-headed pigeons and olive-backed orioles and the regent bowerbird collects them to decorate its bower

• Use in horticulture

  • It is described as "an outstanding specimen tree for coastal gardens"

  • Propagation of the plant can be achieved from semi-hardwood cuttings taken in warmer weather, but germination from seed can take several years

  • The shrub is hardy in most situations and can be grown in shade to full sun

Sources of information:

• (2023)