Quandong
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 A Desert Quandong nut sitting on a piece of paperbark.
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| Santalum acuminatum A.DC. |
Quandong (alternative spelling Quongdong, also called wild peach or desert peach) is the name given to three kinds of Australian wild bush plants (or bushtucker), of which two belong to the sandalwood genus (Santalum):
- Desert quandong, sweet quandong, or native peach (Santalum acuminatum). Is widely dispersed throughout the central deserts and southern arid areas of Australia. The sweet quandong was therefore known to many different indigenous language groups and is therefore known by many different indigenous names including guwandhang (Wiradjuri people of the Lachlan River region of NSW) from which the English name was adapted. Other indigenous names include; gutchu (Wotjobaluk people of western Victoria); wanjanu or mangata (Pitjantjatara people, west of Uluru (Ayers rock) and goorti (Narungga).
- Bitter quandong or Ming (Santalum murrayanum). Katunga, Burn-burn, Mangata
- Blue quandong (Elaeocarpus angustifolius, syn. E. grandis). also known as Silver Quandong, Brush Quandong, Blue Fig and Coolan.
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[edit] Desert Quandong
This plant is a non-obligate root parasite, which means that it gets its nutrients from the roots of other plants.
The bright red Quandong fruit can be eaten and when it is, a brain-like nut is revealed inside. The hard shell, which is approximately 2cm in size, can also be cracked open and the nut inside eaten. Many Aboriginal peoples are known to make jam from the fruit but mainly they gathered the nuts. Emus will eat the fruit and the undigested nut can be easily gathered from the emu droppings. In South Australia the Quandong (S. acuminatum) was called "Wild Peach" or "desert Peach". Quandong was the name given to the Australian Sandalwood (S. spicatum).
When you read of the roots, seeds and smoke being used for medicinal or ceremonial purposes it is likely the Australian Sandalwood is what is being referred to. The Australian Sandalwood has a larger and very palatable nut.
[edit] Bitter Quandong
As the name suggests this is a bitter fruit, but resembles the red fruit of the Desert Quangdong.
[edit] Blue Quandong
This belongs to a different genus and is usually categorised with the others due to the similarity of the seed in the fruit. However unlike the Desert Quandong, this is a sour fruit, having a texture and aftertaste somewhat resembling an olive. The fruit is only ripe for a matter of hours between the sour under-ripe fruit to the mealy, crumbly and tasteless over-ripe condition. Blue Quandongs are frequently eaten by cassowaries; in fact it is commonly thought that the seeds may be unable to germinate unless they pass through the animal's intestines.
