Kingdom Plantae Family Oleaceae Scientific name Nestegis ligustrina | Order Lamiales Genus Notelaea Rank Species | |
 | ||
Similar Notelaea, Pittosporum bicolor, Bedfordia arborescens, Lomatia fraseri, Olearia argophylla | ||
Notelaea ligustrina, known as the privet mock olive, native olive, doral or silkwood, is a plant in the olive family, found in south eastern Australia. Growing in and near rainforests south of Monga National Park in New South Wales, and into Victoria and the island state of Tasmania. The specific epithet ligustrina refers to the Privet, which it resembles.
It is a shrub or small tree and grows up to 16 metres tall and with a trunk diameter of 80 cm. It features dull, hairless leaves that are 3 to 10 cm long and 10 to 25 mm wide. Leaf stems are purple in colour and 2 to 5 mm long. Greenish yellow flowers form on racemes from the leaf axils, from January to April. Relatively large fruit mature from summer to Easter and are up to 10 mm in diameter. White, or colours between pink to dark purple. Though edible and often heavy yielding, the fruit have a large pip and a strong, bitter taste which gives them little food value.