Elaeocarpus obovatus 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 Wyong (33° S) in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 to Proserpine, Queensland

Proserpine, Queensland

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 (20° S) in the tropics.

It grows in tropical and sub-tropical lowland rainforests. Less frequently seen in drier inland rainforests, littoral

Littoral

The littoral zone is that part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged. It always includes this intertidal zone and is often used to...

 rainforests and in swampy areas at sea level. Some of the common names include Hard Quandong, Whitewood, Grey Carabeen, Freckled Oliveberry and Blueberry Ash. However, Blueberry Ash is more usually referred to the related 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...

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Description

A large and impressive tree, growing to 45 metres tall, and 150 cm in trunk diameter. The outer bark is smooth, grey and thin with corky irregularities. The trunk is cylindrical though very buttressed, particularly in larger trees. Leaves are obovate or elliptical, alternate and toothed in the upper two thirds of the leaf. The midrib is raised on the upper and lower surfaces, lateral veins and net veins are more evident under the leaf.

White flowers appear from September to November on 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...

 6 to 12 mm long. Oval or globular containing a rough hard centre and a single seed. Fruiting occurs in January to April. 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 slow and difficult, however cuttings prove more successful.