Mickey Mouse plant, ochna
Ochna serrulata, Fam. Ochanacea
Shrub to about 2m, branches covered in corky lenticels.
| Weed Category: |
Other invasive plants Invasive plants that are not prohibited or restricted invasive plants, but are known to spread readily and cause negative impacts, within the region.
|
| Weed: | Yes |
| Form or habit: | Shrub |
| Family: | Ochanacea |
| Leaf: | Simple Alternate Alternate simple elliptic to oblong, 20-50 x 7-20mm, almost stalkless, margins finely toothed, dark glossy green; new growth has bronze tinge. |
| Flower conspicuous: | Conspicuous |
| Flower colour: |
Yellow |
| Flower description: | Yellow 5-petalled, about 20mm in diameter, borne singly or in small axillary groups on short stems, 9-13mm long; perfumed. |
| Fruit conspicuous: | Conspicuous |
| Fruit colour: |
Black, Green, Red |
| Fruit: | Fleshy |
| Fruit description: | Green becoming black, one-seeded fleshy drupes to 8mm long, up to 6 clustered on bright red fleshy calyx. |
| Habitat: | |
| Distribution | |
| Food source for: | |
| Toxicity: | No toxicity known |
| Origin: | Southern Africa |
| Notes: | Spread by: birds and garden waste. Invades/threats: creek banks, littoral forests, rainforest and disturbed areas. Forms dense thickets out competing native vegetation. Notes: garden escapee. Small, scattered naturalised populations in this region. Environmental weed. |
| Information sources: | Mackay Regional Pest Management Group (2018) Weeds of the Mackay Whitsunday Region Second Edition. |
