Small bird habitat
A sparse shrub to 3 metres with thorny stems in dry and subtropical rainforest, eucalypt and brigalow. Milky sap in branchlets and leaves. Hardy. Attracts birds and butterflies. Thickets provide good small bird habitat. Found growing in subtropical rainforest remnants in Enoggera catchment and increasingly planted in restoration work. Leaves are glossy, opposite and oval-shaped. Paired spines between leaf bases — not in the leaf axils like the similar Strychnine Tree Strychnine psilosperma. White clusters of sweet-smelling, five-petalled flowers in mostly in summer but also throughout the year. Easy to propagate.
The spines which can become quite large are likely to have evolved as a protection from Australian megafauna, now extinct. Aborigines are reported to have used the milky sap as a linament for rheumatism. Host plant for many butterflies including Common Crow and moths including Hawk Moths. When growing in the open the leaves become tough and show more prominent venation. In the open it becomes a compact bush and is regarded as a pest by graziers. In the drier western parts of its range C. ovata intergrades completely with the very closely related C. lanceolata which is distinguished by having longer, narrower leaves. C. lanceolata also has a less robust growth form with plants reaching rarely reaching 2 metres in height.
WARNING: To be edible, the fruit has to be completely ripe with no discernable milky sap (which is poisonous). This is from a plant family containing many poisonous plants including Oleander species.
Green fruit. The fruit still has milky sap at this stage and is poisonous. Photo: Robert Whyte
Leaves and flowers which are 5 mm in diameter. Photo: Robert Whyte
Spines. Photo: Robert Whyte
Seed collecting and propagation
Easy to propagate with fresh seed collected when the fruit is very ripe. There are remnant Carissa ovata bushes at Walton Bridge Reserve on the eastern side of Fish Creek close to where it flows into Enoggera Creek. Access from Lochinvar Lane. The fruit is a glossy purplish-black berry up to 15 mm across which is ripe in April to May. Remove the flesh from the seed before sowing. Takes a few months to germinate.
Ripe Carissa ovata fruit. Photo: Ethel Aardvark CC BY 3.0
