[2] Prolific botanist Robert Brown collected the species between October and November 1804 from the Hunter and Williams Rivers in New South Wales.

[3] He described the species as Lyonsia straminea in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.

[1] Parsonsia straminea is a vine, whose woody stems can reach 9 cm (3+1⁄2 in) in diameter,[3] and extend for 20 m (66 ft) into the tree canopy.

[3] The leathery adult leaves are arranged oppositely (arising in pairs) along the stems and are yellowish green on their upper surface and pale grey-green (glaucous) on the undersurface.

[7] Parsonsia straminea is foraged upon by caterpillars of the common crow (Euploea core) and the Cairns hamadryad (Tellervo zoilus subsp.