''Denhamia oleaster'' is a

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

within the family

Celastraceae The Celastraceae (staff-vine or bittersweet) are a family of 98 genera and 1,350 species of herbs, vines, shrubs and small trees, belonging to the order Celastrales. The great majority of the genera are tropical, with only ''Celastrus'' (the staf ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. The species inhabits a variety of environments, from

monsoon forest Seasonal tropical forest, also known as moist deciduous, semi-evergreen seasonal, tropical mixed or monsoon forest, typically contains a range of tree species: only some of which drop some or all of their leaves during the dry season. This tropic ...

to semi-arid

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

and occurs on a broad range of soil types. In more humid locales the species can grow to 6 metres in height, although it may not reach more than 1 metre in less favourable environments.

John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...

described the plant as ''Melicytus oleaster'' in 1848, it being discovered on explorer

Sir Thomas Mitchell Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), often called Major Mitchell, was a Scottish surveyor and explorer of Southeastern Australia. He was born in Scotland and served in the British Army during the Peninsular War. I ...

's expeditions into northern Australia. ''Denhamia oleaster'' is found in across inland Queensland in open woodland and scrubland in the Brigalow Belt, as well as wetter monsoon forests in the northern reaches of its distribution. it is often associated with brigalow (''

Acacia harpophylla ''Acacia harpophylla'', commonly known as brigalow, brigalow spearwood or orkor, is an endemic (ecology), endemic tree of Australia. The Aboriginal Australian group the Gamilaraay peoples know the tree as Barranbaa or Burrii. It is found in ...

''). The timber is valued for wood turning.

References

* http://www.ttit.id.au/treepages/StiffDenhamia.htm

oleaster , signifying a plant like an olive, but less valuable (cf. poetaster), may be applied to: *Feral olive trees that have been allowed to run wild *'' Olea oleaster'', the wild olive *Various species of '' Elaeagnus'', notably '' Elaeagnus angustifoli ...

Flora of Queensland Taxa named by John Lindley {{Celastraceae-stub