The suburb contains a mix of jarrah, marri, sheoak and banksia woodland as well as wetland areas with flooded gums and paperbarks, which provide habitat to a wide range of waterbirds and mammals.
Allocasuarina | Allocasuarina verticillata | Allocasuarina humilis | Allocasuarina torulosa | Allocasuarina portuensis | Allocasuarina crassa |
The soil of mallee area is a yellow sandy clay with the dominant plants being the low dense Eucalyptus drummondii and Allocasuarina.
Preiss is commemorated in the names of about 100 species of flora in Western Australia, including plants in the genera Acacia, Allocasuarina, Eucalyptus, Grevillea, Hakea, Kunzea, Melaleuca, Santalum, Xanthorrhoea and Callitris.
Where Galahs readily occupy cleared and part-cleared land, Major Mitchell's Cockatoo requires extensive woodlands, particularly favouring Callitris, Allocasuarina and Eucalyptus.
The origins of the name of the suburb, "Oakleigh," is unclear, local historians have three main theories - that it was derived from she-oaks that grew near Scotchmans Creek; from "Oakleigh Park" an estate near Malvern Hills in England; or from Mrs. Oakley an early settler.