Quandongs grow in Australia’s arid and semi-arid interior, south of the tropics and west of the Great Dividing Range all the way to the coast of Western Australia.

Quandongs are a member of the Santalum genus which includes the Australian sandalwood – one of Australia’s earliest exports.  All santalums are parasitic plants. Their roots form attachments to the roots of other plants and draw moisture and nutrients from them. A quandong’s health, grow rate and the quality of their fruit is fully dependent on their ability to form strong attachments to a diversity of host plants, especially large trees. 

At Ni-Ni-Well we choose to provide other natives as hosts. This allows us to derive an income from land that has been left to naturally revegetate. Some of our seed producing wattles also provide additional services as quandong hosts.

Given their vast natural range, quandongs were, and are used by many aboriginal groups. 

The Wiradjuri people of New South Wales use the name guwandhang, from which the name quandong was adapted. Other indigenous names include wolgol (Noongar, Southwestern Australia) gutchu  (Wotjobaluk, Western Victoria); wanjanu or mangata (Pitjantjatjara, Uluru), and goorti (Narungga). The large, pitted stone of the quandong was used as decoration and the oily kernel inside was used as a salve for cuts and grazes.