''Elaeocarpus kirtonii'', commonly known as silver quandong, white quandong, brown hearted quandong, brownheart, mountain beech, Mowbullan whitewood, pigeonberry ash, white beech or whitewood, is species of flowering plant in the family

Elaeocarpaceae Elaeaocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants. The family contains approximately 615 species of trees and shrubs in 12 genera."Elaeocarpaceae" In: Klaus Kubitzki (ed.). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' vol. VI. Springer-Verlag: Be ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to eastern Australia. It is a large rainforest tree with

buttress root Buttress roots also known as plank roots are large, wide roots on all sides of a shallowly rooted tree. Typically, they are found in nutrient-poor tropical forest soils that may not be very deep. They prevent the tree from falling over (hence t ...

s, regularly toothed, narrow elliptic to narrow oblong leaves, racemes of white flowers and pale blue, oval fruit.

Description

''Elaeocarpus kirtonii'' is a large and often dominant tree, typically growing to a height of with a diameter of about , but sometimes to and diameter. There are buttress roots to a height of and the outer bark is silvery grey and thin, with small pustules. New growth is salmon-pink, the leaves clustered near the ends of the branchlets, narrow elliptic to narrow oblong, long and wide on a petiole long. The leaves are dull green with prominent veins, regularly spaced teeth on the edges and turn red before falling. The flowers are arranged along racemes mostly long with between fifteen and twenty sweet-scented flowers, each on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

up to long. The five

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s are very narrow egg-shaped to triangular, long and wide. The five petals are white, long and wide with about twenty-four linear lobes at the tip. There are between twenty-five and thirty

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s. Flowering occurs from January to March and the fruit is a pale blue, oval

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

long, maturing from October to January and containing a hard, sculptured stone.

Taxonomy

''Elaeocarpus kirtonii'' was first formally described in 1886 by

Frederick Manson Bailey Frederick Manson Bailey (8 March 1827 – 25 June 1915) was a botanist active in Australia, who made valuable contributions to the characterisation of the flora of Queensland. He was known by his middle name, Manson. Early life Bailey was bo ...

in ''A Synopsis of the Queensland Flora'', from an unpublished description by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''kirtonii'') honours W. Kirton, who collected samples of the tree at Bulli in 1885 for

Distribution and habitat

Silver quandong grows from near

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

(35° S) in New South Wales to

Eungella National Park Eungella National Park ( ; meaning "Land of the clouds") is a protected area in Queensland, Australia. It is on the Clarke Range at the end of the Pioneer Valley 80 km west of Mackay, and 858 km northwest of Brisbane. Eungel ...

(20° S) in tropical Queensland. It grows in tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperate rainforests but is often also seen in cooler and moister sites on volcanic soils and on the richer alluvial soils.

Ecology

The fruit of ''E. kirtonii'' is eaten by a large variety of rainforest birds.

Conservation status

This quandong is listed as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government ''

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5478802 kirtonii Oxalidales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Taxa named by Frederick Manson Bailey Plants described in 1886