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Blue Bush
Santalum lanceolatum
Santalum lanceolatum is an Australian tree of the family Santalaceae. It is commonly known as desert quandong, northern sandalwood, sandalwood or true sandalwood and in some restricted areas as burdardu. The height of this plant is variable, from 1 to 7 metres. The flowers are green, white, and cream; appearing between January and October. The species has a distribution throughout central Australia, becoming scattered or unusual in more southern regions.
From the article Santalum lanceolatum on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Range & habitat
The native range of the plant extends from north-western Victoria, northwards through New South Wales to North Queensland, westwards across The Northern Territory and into north-western Western Australia. It is a plant primarily of arid and semiarid inland areas, although its distribution reaches the coast in both Central Queensland and the Kimberley. The tree is becoming increasingly rare across much of its desert range due to destructive browsing by feral camels.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
What it does
The family Santalaceae falls within the mistletoe clade, and S. lanceolatum is a hemiparasite, which obtains some of its water and mineral nutrient requirements from the roots of other plants.
Wikipedia: “Ecology”
At the table
The plant is used by the people of the northwest for medicinal purposes, and is placed within the 'Burndad song cycle' of those countries. In the Marra language, it is called dumbuyumbu. This name also occurs in neighbouring languages such as Alawa and is used in Roper River Kriol. Burning the leaves is believed to repel insects.
== References ==
Wikipedia: “Medicinal uses”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Santalum lanceolatum in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 207945.