ABSTRACT
Among native Australian 'bush foods', quandong or the 'Native Peach' is considered one of the more promising plants that could make it to the world stage as a dessert fruit. Quandong is an Australian native shrub or tree belonging to the family Santalaceae. The tree's natural habitat is in southern Australia, ranging from New South Wales, south Australia and western Australia with pockets in Victoria, Southern Queensland and Northern Territory. The fruit is referred to by several names such as Sweet Quandong, Wild Peach, Desert Peach and Native Peach as well as Aboriginal names such as Guwandhuna, Gutchu, Wanjanu, Mangata, Goorti and Wadjal, among others. Aboriginal communities ate the fresh fruit or dried it for later use and then reconstituted it by soaking in water. Varieties with useful attributes have been selected from seedling orchard trees grown from seeds of trees from a wide geographic distribution and/or backyard trees with proven performance.
