''Santalum murrayanum'', commonly known as the bitter quandong, is an Australian plant in the sandalwood family, ''

Santalaceae The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial herbs, and epiphytic climbersHewson & George t al.br>''Santalaceae'' taxonomy, 1984, pp. 191-194.) which, like other membe ...

''. The

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

name for the plant is coolyar. It bears a bitter fruit, from which a common name derives, in contrast to congener ''

Santalum acuminatum ''Santalum acuminatum'', the desert quandong, is a hemiparasitic plant in the sandalwood family, Santalaceae, (Native to Australia) which is widely dispersed throughout the central deserts and southern areas of Australia. The species, especiall ...

'' - sweet quandong. The plant is also known as Ming.http://www.wanatca.org.au/Q-Yearbook/Y5all.pdf West Australian Nutgrowing Society Yearbook It occurs in a hemi-

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

relationship with the roots of several other plants, in a non-destructive way, as with all the species of the genus ''

Santalum ''Santalum'' is a genus of woody flowering plants in the Santalaceae family, the best known and commercially valuable of which is the Indian sandalwood tree, '' S. album''. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasites wh ...

''. The shrub or small tree typically grows to a height of . It blooms between October and January producing white to yellow-green flowers. It is found on sandplains and dunes and has a scattered distribution through the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in sandy or gravelly lateritic soils.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q7420025 Bushfood Australian Aboriginal bushcraft murrayanum Eudicots of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state)