Quong Dong? trees

[car...@ipswich.gil.com.au]

I listen to Macca on Sunday mornings, and he mentions a Quong dong?
tree.
Anyone know much about it?
Any history of uses etc and a picture would be much appreciated.
Ray
Sunny Qld

[Roger Riordan]

car...@ipswich.gil.com.au wrote:
>I listen to Macca on Sunday mornings, and he mentions a Quong dong?
>tree.
>Anyone know much about it?

The quandong (Santalum acuminatum) is (reportedly) an attractive tree,
widespread in the arid inland. It has succulent fruit, used to be a
staple of the aborigines, and was widely used to make jam by the early
settlers. Now it is coming into favour again, and is being widely
planted, but is not yet readily available. However it is
semi-parasitic, and therefore hard to grow, and seedlings are very
variable in quality, so it is usually grafted in commercial
plantations.

The fruit is rather like a peach, with a hard stone which is wrinkled
like a peach stone, but is round and quite decorative. It was often
used as a counter for games. The kernal is rich in oil, but is
strongly scented, smelling rather like liniment. The quandong is
closely related to the sandalwood (Santalum spicatum).

See "Wild Lime" by Juliegh Robins, (ISBN 1 86448 082 3) for more
information and recipes.

Roger Riordan.

[Bernard Morey]

car...@ipswich.gil.com.au wrote:
>
> I listen to Macca on Sunday mornings, and he mentions a Quong dong?
> tree.
> Anyone know much about it?

> Any history of uses etc and a picture would be much appreciated.

I think this is also called 'native peach'. As a child I used to pick
them near Coffin Bay. My mother made jam from them. They are tart withj
little flesh and a large stone that could be used to play marbles.

--
Bernie Morey
Melbourne, Australia

[Dave Riches]

car...@ipswich.gil.com.au wrote:
>
> I listen to Macca on Sunday mornings, and he mentions a Quong dong?
> tree.
> Anyone know much about it?
> Any history of uses etc and a picture would be much appreciated.

> Ray
> Sunny Qld

You will have more luck finding information if you look under quandong
trees. Also called native peach.

[phillip potter]

On Sun, 30 Mar 1997 19:00:42 GMT, car...@ipswich.gil.com.au wrote:

>I listen to Macca on Sunday mornings, and he mentions a Quong dong?
>tree.
>Anyone know much about it?
>Any history of uses etc and a picture would be much appreciated.
>Ray
>Sunny Qld
>

Santalum acuminatuen or Quandong or Native Peach, one of the few
native Australian fruits, and one of the few fruits which grow well in
arid climes. Its a root parasite, and is now getting rare because of
the clearing of the host plants. A large round dimpled nut, used to be
used in the game Chinese Checkers, surrounded by red flesh, an aquired
taste but to those like me brought up on them very tasty and wish I
could get them now. Very high in Vit. C., and because of its ability
in arid soil is worthy of cultivation. I understand that the CSIRO has
done some work on it, and I further understand that a nursery in
Mildura has them for sale.

I tried to grow them once, could get the nut to shoot but couldn't get
the roots to take to a host so they died. The fruits make wonderful
jams and sauce.

Barcoo Rot

[Bob McKay]

rio...@werple.net.au (Roger Riordan) writes:
>The quandong (Santalum acuminatum) is (reportedly) an attractive tree,
>widespread in the arid inland. It has succulent fruit, used to be a
>staple of the aborigines, and was widely used to make jam by the early
>settlers. Now it is coming into favour again, and is being widely
>planted, but is not yet readily available. However it is
>semi-parasitic, and therefore hard to grow, and seedlings are very
>variable in quality, so it is usually grafted in commercial
>plantations.

Propagation is inconvenient for the commercial growers, because of the need to
propagate a host as well. But it's not too hard for the home grower - you can
use a grass planted in the pot as the initial host. I grew a half dozen or so
as part of a local SGAP project some years ago, and I think the success rate
was around 70%, using couch as the host. I recall the seed needed some
pre-treatment, but forget the details.

Another trivium: Chinese checkers sets were sold with quandong seeds as the
counters during the '40s and '50s.

Cheers
Bob McKay
--
,-_|\ Bob McKay, Comp Sci, ADFA tel:+61 6 268 8169 / = \
/ \ ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA fax:+61 6 268 8581 / :::::: \
\_,-._/ http://www.cs.adfa.oz.au/~rim r...@cs.adfa.oz.au \ :::::: /
v See our web pages for CS & IS PG research/course degrees \ __ /

[Stephen Tennant]

Hi,
Whilst Roger is right about the Sanatalum acuminatum and I did not
hear the program you mentioned, I just thought I would point out that there
are several 'Quandongs'.

This is the problem with common namings.

Where I live we use 'Blue Quandongs as part of rainforest regeneration
programs and they are native to Queensland and NSW. These are called
Eleocarpus grandis. However a related variety Eleocarpus angustifolius whilst
it is commonly called Silver Quandong has been called Blue Quondong as well.
Other Quandongs are Eleocarpus faveolatus(White Quondong) and Eleocarpus
obovatus(Hard Quondong).

The Quondongs we use most commonly (E. grandis) are a fast growing rainforest
tree with buttressing when mature. The fruit is a purple/blue round fruit
with a single stone. Propogation from seed is easy (in Brisbane :)) and
the old leaves turn a vivid red before dropping. Altogether a handsome
tree but not really a backyard specimen due to its potential height of up to
45 metres with a spread of 12 meters or more.

Hope this helps.

Steve T.

Roger Riordan (rio...@werple.net.au) wrote:

: car...@ipswich.gil.com.au wrote:
: >I listen to Macca on Sunday mornings, and he mentions a Quong dong?
: >tree.
: >Anyone know much about it?

: The quandong (Santalum acuminatum) is (reportedly) an attractive tree,

: widespread in the arid inland. It has succulent fruit, used to be a
: staple of the aborigines, and was widely used to make jam by the early
: settlers. Now it is coming into favour again, and is being widely
: planted, but is not yet readily available. However it is
: semi-parasitic, and therefore hard to grow, and seedlings are very
: variable in quality, so it is usually grafted in commercial
: plantations.

: The fruit is rather like a peach, with a hard stone which is wrinkled

[Alex J. Saar]

r...@dolphin.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay) wrote:

>rio...@werple.net.au (Roger Riordan) writes:
>>The quandong (Santalum acuminatum) is (reportedly) an attractive tree,
>>widespread in the arid inland.

During Easter I travelled 500 km NNE of Perth, and during half of that
journey I regularly saw the Sweet Quandong (Santalum acuminatum). It is
certainly tree-shaped, but the majority were 1 to 2 metres tall. The
occasional tree in the southern end of the range reached between 4 and 5
metres.

>It has succulent fruit, used to be a
>>staple of the aborigines, and was widely used to make jam by the early
>>settlers.

Quandong jam is delicious, as long as it is _not_ made from the Bitter
Quandong (Santalum murrayanum).

I have also eaten the kernels of Quandongs which were very waxy and with
little flavour. The aborigines north of Perth had special anvils for
cracking the nut to get at the kernel.

>Now it is coming into favour again, and is being widely
>>planted, but is not yet readily available. However it is
>>semi-parasitic, and therefore hard to grow, and seedlings are very
>>variable in quality, so it is usually grafted in commercial
>>plantations.

It is the nature of seedlings to be vary variable in quality. I can't
imagine what they would use as a stock when they graft them. Any
suggestions here?

>Propagation is inconvenient for the commercial growers, because of the need to
>propagate a host as well. But it's not too hard for the home grower - you can
>use a grass planted in the pot as the initial host. I grew a half dozen or so
>as part of a local SGAP project some years ago, and I think the success rate
>was around 70%, using couch as the host. I recall the seed needed some
>pre-treatment, but forget the details.

Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) is very similar to Sweet Quandong, so the
following cultivation (?) notes would also apply. The Department of
Conservation and Land Management (CALM) in WA is trying to re-establish
Sandalwood on some station property. Five or six seeds are planted at the
base of several small shrubs in a small (20 metre square) fenced enclosure
on the station. The fence is to keep out sheep (although the station has
been destocked for 2-3 years, some sheep are wandering in from
neighbouring properties), feral goats (gradually being eradicated),
rabbits (RCD has not yet had an impact here) and kangaroos. There seems to
be about 70% to 80% germination and last year's seedlings are now 20 to 30
cm tall.

I suppose that the natural pre-treatment (?) is to have the seeds pass
through an emu. The ideal situation would be to plant emu droppings which
contain Santalum seeds. (I believe that planted emu droppings could make
for an interesting, "unplanned" native garden, with the possibility of
surprise germinations.) :-)

Good luck with your growing.
Alex
Perth, Western Australia

[Anne & Roger Green]

Dave Riches wrote:
>
> car...@ipswich.gil.com.au wrote:
> >
> > I listen to Macca on Sunday mornings, and he mentions a Quong dong?
> > tree.
> > Anyone know much about it?

Quandong seeds are pre-treated by disinfecting with bleach then storing
in a damp, sterile medium until they germinate. Plant a companion plant
next to the sprouted seed and protect from herbivores, drought and
excess heat for at least the first year. We grow them in our native
plant nursery at Morgan, S.A. (ph 8540 4035 or email
atri...@riverland.net.au) For more info about us see
www.riverland.net.au/~atriplex. Regards, Anne Green

[Stephen Chalmers]

A long time ago, in a galaxy frighteningly close to this

one, Bernard Morey <bmo...@aardvark.apana.org.au> wrote:

>car...@ipswich.gil.com.au wrote:
>>
>> I listen to Macca on Sunday mornings, and he mentions a Quong dong?
>> tree.
>> Anyone know much about it?

>> Any history of uses etc and a picture would be much appreciated.
>

>I think this is also called 'native peach'. As a child I used to pick
>them near Coffin Bay. My mother made jam from them. They are tart withj
>little flesh and a large stone that could be used to play marbles.
>
>
>--
>Bernie Morey
>Melbourne, Australia

That is "Quandong". For more info take a look at Wrigley and
Faggs "Australian Native Plants' 3rd edn. published by Angus
and Robertson. Genus Elaeocarpus spp. or Santalum spp.
depending on the locale. I haven't looked but I would be
surprised if Encyclopaedia Botanica didn't have an entry.

There are pictures of foliage in Costerman "Native Trees and
Shrubs of South Eastern Australia" that will give you an
idea of the appearance of Elaeocarpus. Failing all of that,
ask Macca, he knows everything about everything else!;-)

Hope this helps,

Stephen Chalmers |"Bother!" said Pooh as he realised
Lavington NSW |that his leg cutter had failed to
Australia |lure the cunning Piglet into a
chu...@albury.net.au |false stroke.
scha...@postoffice.csu.edu.au
http://albury.net.au/~chuckc

[Conrad Drake]

In article <33403808...@news.albury.net.au>,

phi...@corryong.albury.net.au (phillip potter) wrote:
>Santalum acuminatuen or Quandong or Native Peach, one of the few
>native Australian fruits, and one of the few fruits which grow well in
>arid climes. Its a root parasite, and is now getting rare because of
>the clearing of the host plants.

<snip>

>I tried to grow them once, could get the nut to shoot but couldn't get
>the roots to take to a host so they died.

So does anyone know what plants can be used as hosts?

Conrad D

--
"Our instruments are useless.. they cannot reach below the floor or penetrate the ceiling."
The Church, "Destination"
Email: con...@jtec.com.au - speaking for myself
Snail: Locked Bag No.6, West Perth 6872, Australia.
Numb's:(ph)+61 9 429 5135 (fx)+61 9 321 5216 (dod) 0604

[David Drew-Smythe and Lisa Natasha Brady]

Conrad Drake <conrad@#spamstopper%jtec.com.au> wrote in article

> >I tried to grow them once, could get the nut to shoot but couldn't get
> >the roots to take to a host so they died.
>
> So does anyone know what plants can be used as hosts?
>
> Conrad D

I recently obtained a quandong seedling from a stall at the Sydney Royal
Show - as well as some very tasty quandong 'leather'. The info. provided
with the seedling stated that the seedling was hosted on to strawberry
clover. Juleigh Robbins in 'Wild Lime' (1996, Allen& Unwin) suggests clover
or lucerne as seedlings. For planting out, it is suggested that they are
planted in areas with lots of roots - like lawns or near likely host trees
- established trees preferably.

Lisa Natasha B.

[Roger Riordan]

Local fruiterers have a stand of jams made by Beerenberg Farm,
Hahndorf, SA. Sally noticed the other day that this included
Quandong. Quite tasty, too.

Roger Riordan.