How to identify this plant?

[JM2000]

Hi - this is a plant from Bunnings - soft leaves and with a hard trunk/branches, no tag

I went to Bunnings Gladstone but could not see the same

Wish to get this plant if I know what it is

[MitchellMc]

Hi @JM2000,

From the leaf shape, it is likely to be some type of Acacia. Has it flowered at all for you? If so, could you tell us what they looked like? One possibility is that it's a Queensland Silver Wattle. 

Let me tag @Noelle and @mich1972 to see if they have any thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Noelle]

Hi @JM2000 

It's a bit hard to identify any shrub/tree without either seeing the flowers or having a close-up image of a leaf, to see the vein pattern in it. While the leaves could be Silver Wattle, the growth habit is quite different - Silver Wattle is usually more erect and tree-like than shrubby as in your photo. 

There are too many other options to choose from, so we await your response to @MitchellMc 's comments.

[JM2000]

Hi Mitchell

Thanks - it does not look at be a QLD silver Wattyl, the leaf shape is more slender and there have not been any flowers nor seeds. I know that it came from Bunnings and is planted in the street nature strip by a neighbour.  The tag is gone

The leaves are nice and soft to touch.  The screen shot below is a close up of the leaves

[JM2000]

Hi Noelle

Many thanks for the kind reply, I have replied to @MitchellMc email/post.  I also tried plant ID - web version and could not a match wrt leave shape

I have been to Bunnings in town this weekend and could not find a match.  I looked on the web for silver ground covers as well - nothing is an exact match.

The trunk is woody, its a nice looking plant and hardy (has not been watered)

Kind regards

James

[EricL]

Hello @JM2000 

From the photos you've posted, my best guess is an olive or olive relative, most commonly either a dwarf olive (Olea europaea, often sold as ‘Little Ollie’/dwarf forms) or an Australian native lookalike called mock olive (Notelaea species, often Notelaea ligustrina or related). Both can form a dense, billowy shrub like your second photo, and both have that green upper surface with a paler, silvery underside. The key difference is that true olives often have a more uniformly narrow, leathery leaf with a very distinct silvery underside, while mock olive leaves can look slightly softer and the undersides are often less “metallic” silvery, depending on the species and site.

If you can check one quick thing on the plant (no special tools needed), it will help in its identification: if you flip a leaf over and the underside looks strongly silver and slightly “dusty” or felted, that leans toward true olive; if it’s more just pale green-grey rather than silver, and you later see small dark purple/black berries, that leans toward mock olive. 

One more thing you can try is to bring several of the leaves or a branch to your local stores plant specialist. They should be able to provide a wider perspective to what the plants identity is.

Eric