Blue plum facts for kids

Elaeocarpus arnhemicus, commonly known as blue plum, bony quandony or Arnhem Land quandong, is species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and is native to northern Australia and New Guinea. It is a small tree with narrow elliptic to lance-shaped or egg-shaped leaves with serrated edges, racemes of white or cream-coloured flowers and metallic blue fruit.

Description

Elaeocarpus arnhemicus is a tree that typically grows to a height of 15 m (49 ft) with a DBH of up to 30 cm (12 in). The leaves are narrow elliptic to lance-shaped or egg-shaped, 50–122 mm (2.0–4.8 in) long and 20–53 mm (0.79–2.09 in) wide with serrations on the edges, on a petiole 3–15 mm (0.12–0.59 in) long. The flowers are arranged in racemes up to 60 mm (2.4 in) long, each flower on a pedicel up to 5 mm (0.20 in) long. The sepals are egg-shaped, 2.5–3 mm (0.098–0.118 in) long and 1.4–2 mm (0.055–0.079 in) wide. The petals are white or cream-coloured, 2.7–4.2 mm (0.11–0.17 in) long and 1.5–3.1 mm (0.059–0.122 in) wide, the tip with linear lobes. There are between eighteen and twenty stamens and the style is 1.2–2 mm (0.047–0.079 in) long and glabrous. Flowering occurs from January to July and the fruit is an elliptical, metallic blue drupe 8.2–16.5 mm (0.32–0.65 in) long and 6.5–12.5 mm (0.26–0.49 in) wide.

Taxonomy and naming

Elaeocarpus arnhemicus was first formally described in 1868 by Ferdinand von Mueller in his book Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.

Distribution and habitat

Blue plum grows in spring-fed rainforest in the northern part of the Northern Territory, Cape York Peninsula, north-east Queensland and New Guinea at altitudes up to 500 m (1,600 ft) above sea level.