Elaeodendron australe

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids  > Celastrales > Celastraceae > Elaeodendron australe

Other links:

Plant  information

Common name:               Red Olive-berry  

• Also red-fruited olive plum, or blush boxwood

Conservation status:   unknown

Etymology:   

• x

Flowers:                  

• Dioecious; that is, male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. 

• The flowers are arranged in cymes in leaf axils, on a peduncle up to 12 mm long

• Each flower on a pedicel 3–7 mm long

• The four petals are yellowish-green, about 4 mm long

• Male flowers have four stamens and female flowers have four staminodes

• Flowering occurs in spring and summer and the fruit is a fleshy, oblong to oval, orange-red drupe 10–25 mm long

Fruit:                         

• The fruit is ripe from March to July and often persists on the tree for many months

Leaves:         

• The leaves are mostly arranged in opposite pairs 

• Egg-shaped to elliptic or oblong with a wavy edge

• 27–150 mm long and 4–70 mm wide

• On a petiole 4–10 mm long

Stem & branches:  

•  x

Roots:         

• x

Habit:        

• A shrub or small tree that typically grows to a height of 8 m and has separate male and female plants

Habitat:   

• Red olive-berry grows in eucalypt and rainforest ecotone areas, and in littoral or dry rainforest

Distribution:                  

•  Endemic to eastern Australia

• It is found in north-eastern and central eastern Queensland and as far south as Tuross Head in NSW 

• An unusual thick-leaved form occurs in Mount Kaputar National Park and nearby western slopes and dry tableland gorges

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Elaeodendron australe was first formally described in 1805 by Étienne Pierre Ventenat in his book Jardin de la Malmaison

  • In 1825, de Candolle described two varieties in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

    • Elaeodendron australe Vent. var. australe[8] that has leaves less than four times as long as broad, and mostly more than 15 mm wide

    • Elaeodendron australe var. integrifolium (Tratt.) DC. (previously known as Portenschlagia integrifolia) that has leaves more than four times as long as broad, and less that 15 mm wide

• Use in horticulture

  • Seed germination is very slow, but reliable with around a 25% success rate after twelve months

Sources of information:

• (2023)