About Olax stricta R.Br.
Olax stricta is a member of the Olacaceae plant family. It grows to a height of two metres and is native to eastern Australia. It typically grows on infertile sites in dry eucalyptus woodland, growing on either sandstone or granite. It can occasionally also be found growing on dunes and in shrubland. It is not a common species, but has a wide distribution across its range. The plant’s pale yellow-green foliage has led to suggestions that it may be a root parasite. Its fruit is fleshy, olive in colour, and measures around 8 mm long by 5 mm wide. Its specific epithet stricta comes from Latin, and refers to the plant’s erect, compact growth form that grows in bundles. The species was first collected by people of European descent in Sydney during the early colonial period. It was first formally published in scientific literature in 1810, in Robert Brown’s work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae; Brown was a prolific Scottish botanist.
