The quandong is a fruit native to which continent?

Quandong, quandang or quondong is a common name for the Wild Peach species. It is a plant in the sandalwood family and is native to Australia. It's widely dispersed throughout the central deserts and southern areas of the continent.

Quandongs have been an important traditional aboriginal fruit, which is, although somewhat tart, highly nutritious and contains twice the vitamin C of an orange. The kernel is also very nutritious but indigenous Australians tended to use this mainly for medicinal purposes. The wood from the slow growing trees was prized for the making of traditional bowls – pitti or coolamons. The quandong fruit feature heavily in aboriginal mythology across all the desert regions of Australia.

The quandong is an evergreen tree, its fruit can be stewed to make pie filling for quandong pies or made into a fruit juice drink. The seed (kernel) inside the tough shell can be extracted to be crushed into a paste and then be used on sore gums or an oral gum boil to ease the pain.

Quandong was an important food source for European settlers, and it is recorded that explorers Charles Sturt and John Stuart would probably have died of scurvy in central Australia, had they not eaten wild fruits, including quandong on their expeditions. Early settlers used quandong fruit in jams, pies and jellies, and also dried the fruit for future use.