One thing that really thrills me about local plants is when they smell good, and particularly when you can sniff them out from a distance.

The acetone aka nail polish-remover scent of the Lomandras; the delicious fragrance of Sweet Pittosporums that grow in almost every creek gully in the region; or the spicy smell of Sassafras leaves in the escarpment rainforest.

One fabulous-scented local plant is the Prickly Alyxia, also known as Chain Fruit, whose flowers have an incredible smooth and jasmine-like scent. This plant is flowering right now, but you'll be lucky if you get to see it as it's very uncommon in the region and is only known here from one or two areas around Mount Nebo (though it's more in the northeast of NSW). The flowers are quite small, but occur in clusters, and their scent can be quite strong, easily detected if you're anywhere near the plant. 

Prickly Alyxia is basically a shrub, typically growing with multiple stems or trunks, and reaching only about 2.5m at most. The prickly leaves occur in whorls of four to six, and are extremely decorative.

It's known as a plant of dry rainforest or rainforest edges, meaning that it's actually extremely tough and adaptable. In my experience, it will grow in gardens almost anywhere on the escarpment. Its prickly shrubby habit makes it an outstanding habitat plant for small birds, who will enjoy the shelter and protection it provides from larger and more aggressive birds.

I don't know which species eat its stunning orange fruit, but they look pretty tempting to me. The plant below is in my garden and this is its very first, solitary, fruit. Established plants in natural areas are known to produce 'chains' or 'strings' of fruit like a series of Jaffas. Based on my garden experience, I reckon they would be very appealing to King Parrots and Satin Bowerbirds. I'd be very interested to hear about others' experiences with this plant in garden settings.   

Do you have a Prickly Alyxia in your garden? How's it going? What wildlife does it attract?