| Synonyms: |
Pleurostylia heynei Wight & Arn, var. acutifolia Suess. |
| Common names: | 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. |
| Type location: |
Angola & Malawi |
| 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) | |
| Flowering time: | Oct - Feb |
| Worldwide distribution: | Angola, DRC (Katanga), Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe. |
| FZ divisions: | N,Z |
| 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 |