Elaeocarpus kirtonii is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It grows from near Milton, New South Wales

Milton, New South Wales

Milton is a town in the City of Shoalhaven on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia, not far from Ulladulla. It was founded in the middle of the 19th century...

 (35° S) to Eungella National Park

Eungella National Park

Eungella is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 80 km west of Mackay, and 858 km northwest of Brisbane. The original inhabitants are the Goreng goreng people. The park is covered by dense rainforest and is known for its platypuses.The national park was established in 1941 and is...

 (20° S) in tropical Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. It grows in tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperate rainforests. Often seen in cooler and moister sites on volcanic soils and on the richer alluvial soils. Some of the many common names include Silver Quandong, Brown hearted Quandong, Whitewood, Pigeonberry Ash, and White Quandong.

Description

A large and often dominant tree, growing to 45 metres tall, and over 2 metres in diameter.

The outer bark is silvery grey and thin, with small pustules. The tree base is significantly buttressed. Another identifying feature is the senescent red leaves. Leaves resemble the Coachwood

Coachwood

Ceratopetalum apetalum, Coachwood, also called Scented Satinwood or Tarwood, is a medium-sized hardwood tree, straight-growing with smooth, fragrant, greyish bark. It is in the family Cunoniaceae...

, being long, thin and serrated. 9 to 18 cm long, around 3 cm wide. Dull green and very veiny, a long leaf stalk, 2 to 6 cm long, swollen where attached to the branch. New spring growth is a brilliant salmon pink colour, most outstanding in the rainforest.

White flowers appear on racemes from January to March, being sweet scented and attractive. Similar to the cultivated Elaeocarpus reticulatus

Elaeocarpus reticulatus

Elaeocarpus reticulatus, the Blueberry Ash, is a large shrub or tree which can grow to a height of 15m. In NSW rainforests it can attain a height of 30 metres. Its most conspicuous features are white or pink cup-shaped flowers with fringed edges and round blue fruits. Strictly botanically, the...

, though in longer racemes.

The fruit is a blue drupe

Drupe

In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...

, 10 to 13 mm long with a hard stone like capsule, containing one or sometimes two seeds. Fruit matures from October to January, eaten by a large variety of rainforest birds. Like many Australian Elaeocarpus

Elaeocarpus

Elaeocarpus is a genus of tropical and subtropical evergreen trees and shrubs. The approximately 350 species are distributed from Madagascar in the west through India, Southeast Asia, Malaysia, southern China, and Japan, through Australia to New Zealand, Fiji, and Hawaii in the east. The islands of...

trees, germination is very slow and difficult, however cuttings prove more successful.