Syzygium oleosum (Blue Lilly Pilly) is common in the northern part of the Illawarra escarpment. It is mainly found in the rainforests of the plateau and occasionally on the higher reaches.
It is mostly a spindly bush, but it can grow to 10 metres, and most often is found along water courses. The leaves are opposite and short stalked, tapering to a point, like the other Lilly pillies.
The fruit is urn-shaped and a blue/purplish colour. Its fruits are edible.
Six were germinated from local seed and planted in the Stanwell Avenue Reserve in 2020 but are not yet big enough to fruit.
About the writer
Kieran Tapsell was born in 1945 and spent his childhood in Cronulla. He was a solicitor at Kirrawee from 1973 to 2013. He came to live in Stanwell Park in 1972 and started learning Spanish in 1998. He is the author of Potiphar’s Wife: The Vatican’s Secret and Child Sexual Abuse (2014) and of Tales Old and New from Stanwell Park (2021), and has had translations of six books by Colombian authors published. His hobbies have been surfing, hang gliding, travelling, sea kayaking, ceramics and bush regeneration.
