Home | > | List of families | > | Celastraceae | > | Pleurostylia | > | africana |
Synonyms: |
Pleurostylia heynei Wight & Arn, var. acutifolia Suess. |
Common names: | Mulyamandebele (Tonga: Zimbabwe) Northern coffee-pear (English) |
Frequency: | |
Status: | Native |
Description: |
Shrub or small unarmed tree. Bark grey becoming dark and rough in older trees; young branchlets pale and 4-angled. Leaves opposite, oblong-elliptic, up to 10 × 4 cm, bright to dark glossy green above, paler and duller below, leathery, net-veining conspicuous; margin entire. Young leaves purple-tinged, typically drooping on the young branchlets (See photos). Flowers in small compact axillary heads, greenish-yellow, unpleasantly scented. Fruit obovoid-ellipsoid, up to 8 × 3 mm, slightly asymmetric with the remains of the style on one side towards the base, green. |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | africana: African |
Habitat: | Along the margins of forest, in woodland and on rocky hillsides, often on termite mounds. |
Altitude range: (metres) | 420 - 1620 m |
Flowering time: | Oct - Feb |
Worldwide distribution: | Angola, DRC (Katanga), Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe. |
Zimbabwe distribution: | N,W,C,E,S |
Growth form(s): | Tree. |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | Charaxes castor flavifasciatus (Larval foodplant) |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Images last updated: | Wednesday 12 August 2009 |
Literature: |
Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 127. (Includes a picture). Burrows, J.E., Burrows, S.M., Lötter, M.C. & Schmidt, E. (2018). Trees and Shrubs Mozambique Publishing Print Matters (Pty), Cape Town. Page 497. (Includes a picture). Drummond, R.B. (1975). A list of trees, shrubs and woody climbers indigenous or naturalised in Rhodesia. Kirkia 10(1) Page 255. Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 34. Robson, N.K.B. (1966). Celastraceae Flora Zambesiaca 2(2) Pages 383 - 384. (Includes a picture). Strugnell, A.M. (2006). A Checklist of the Spermatophytes of Mount Mulanje, Malawi Scripta Botanica Belgica 34 National Botanic Garden of Belgium Page 67. also in error as Pleurostylia capensis |
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