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Oliveberry
Blue Oliveberry - Elaeocarpus
reticulatus
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Oo
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The Blue Oliveberry is a medium-sized tree with dense, evergreen foliage and sprays of white flowers, each with broad petals that are edged with a fine, feathery fringe. The tree grows in wet forests and on the edges of rainforests in eastern Australia.
The name comes from the blue fleshy berries which are produced each year in summer. The berries look rather like those of the European Olive but the plants are not closely related at all.
Many rainforest trees have fleshy fruit because they need the help of birds (and sometimes mammals) to move their seeds around. The fruit are attractive to birds, such as
Currawongs and Bower Birds, which will eat the berries and release the seeds (in their droppings) a long way from the plant from which they came.
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