Ngalia Name: Walku
Botanical Name: Santalum acuminatum
Common Name: Native Peach or Quandong
Appearance
Small tree or shrub, 1-7 m high, hemiparasitic on roots. green-white/red-brown, Jan to Apr or Jul to Sep or Nov to Dec. White, grey, yellow-brown or red sand, clay loam. Coastal dunes, gravelly plains, granitic outcrops, creek beds.
Distribution
Cape Range, Central, Dandaragan Plateau, Eastern Goldfield, Eastern Mallee, Eastern Murchison, Edel, Fitzgerald, Geraldton Hills, Hamersley, Hampton, Katanning, Lateritic Plain, Lesueur Sandplain, Mackay, Mann-Musgrave Block, Maralinga, Mardabilla, Merredin, Northern Jarrah Forest, Nullarbor Plain, Perth, Roebourne, Shield, Southern Cross, Southern Jarrah Forest, Tallering, Trainor, Warren, Western Mallee, Western Murchison, Wooramel.
Uses
The Quandong is one of the many types of sandalwood. The fruits were often dried and stored for later. The seed kernels were ground and mixed with animal fat and used as an ointment for sore muscles. The leaves were pounded to a paste and applied to sores and boils.
Sources
https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/2356
Vivienne Hansen and John Horsefall 2019, Noongar Bush Tucker – Bush food plants and fungi of the south-west of Western Australia UWAP - UWA Publishing
