[6][8][9] The blue quandong begins to flower around the seventh year,[4] and the inflorescences are racemes up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long, produced in the leaf axils and on the branches below the leaves.

The Australian botanist Wendy Elizabeth Cooper has stated that flowering of E. grandis occurs from October to March and fruit appear in any month.

[10] Elaeocarpus grandis was first described in 1860 by the German-born Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in his massive work Fragmenta phytographiæ Australiæ.

[2][11] In 1984 the British botanist Mark James Elgar Coode published a 98-page paper covering the genus Elaeocarpus in Australia and New Zealand, in which he reduced E. grandis to synonymy under E.

[2][3] It is also recognised by the authorities of both Australian states in which it is purported to exist, i.e. Queensland and New South Wales.

The species epithet grandis is the Latin word for "large", referring to the great height that this tree will grow to.

Its range is the coastal forests from the islands of the Torres Strait, through to the Nambucca River in northeastern New South Wales.

[16] The fruit of E. grandis are eaten by a variety of birds and animals, including the southern cassowary;[4][17] the wompoo, rose-crowned and superb fruit doves;[7][18] the pied imperial, topknot and white-headed pigeons;[7][18] the eastern tube-nosed bat and the spectacled flying fox;[6][7][8] the musky rat-kangaroo and native rats;[6][8] and Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo.

[19] The larvae of the moths Echiomima mythica and Eschatura lemurias bore into the timber of fallen trees,[20][21][22] and were subsequently eaten by people of the Kuku Yalanji nation.