Nestegis ligustrina, known as The Privet Mock Olive or Silkwood, is a plant in the olive family

Oleaceae

Oleaceae are a family containing 24 extant genera and around 600 species of mesophytic shrubs, trees and occasionally vines. As shrubs, members of this family may be twine climbers, or scramblers.-Leaves:...

, found in south eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Growing in and near rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

s south of Monga National Park

Monga National Park

Monga National Park is located 230 km south west of Sydney, Australia. The closest town nearby is Braidwood.Monga features outstanding high altitude eucalyptus forest and cool temperate rainforest....

, and into Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 and the island state of Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

. The specific epithet ligustrina refers to the Privet

Ligustrum

Ligustrum is a genus of about forty species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs, sometimes forming small or medium-sized trees. They are now all known by the common name of privet.-Selected species:...

, which it resembles.

A shrub or small tree, up to 16 metres tall and a trunk diameter of 80 cm. It features dull, hairless leaves, 3 to 10 cm long, 10 to 25 mm wide. Leaf stems are purple in colour, 2 to 5 mm long. Greenish yellow flowers form on raceme

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

s from the leaf axils, from January to April. Relatively large fruit mature from summer to Easter, up to 10 mm in diameter. White, or colours between pink to dark purple.