| Elaeocarpus angustifolius | |
|---|---|
| Leaves and fruit at a Hawaiian arboretum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Oxalidales |
| Family: | Elaeocarpaceae |
| Genus: | Elaeocarpus |
| Species: | E. angustifolius |
| Binomial name | |
| Elaeocarpus angustifolius Blume |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Elaeocarpus grandis |
|
Elaeocarpus angustifolius is a species of flowering plant in the Elaeocarpaceae family, bearing bitter edible fruit. It is commonly known as Blue Marble Tree, and also as Blue Fig or Blue Quandong, although it is not closely related to figs and apart from both being Eudicots hardly related at all to quandongs. The junior synonym Elaeocarpus grandis, from a later description of the species by Ferdinand von Mueller, is also frequently found.
It is found in New Caledonia, Queensland, Australia, and New South Wales.
The fruit of this species is round and blue, between 20 and 30 mm across, and has a seed with deep convolutions in its shell. These are eaten whole by cassowaries, Woompoo pigeon and Spectacled flying foxes, which pass the nut undamaged.[1]