| Synonyms: | |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | Local and uncommon. |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Evergreen shrub or small tree, 2.5–6 m tall; bark on trunk and older branches greyish white, longitudinally fissured; young branchlets squarish to narrowly winged, pale reddish brown when young. Leaves elliptic to ovate, mostly 14–32 mm long, somewhat leathery, dark green above, paler beneath, 3-veined from the base, midrib and lateral veins impressed above, prominent beneath; petiole up to 2 mm long. Flowers in dense clusters at the bare nodes of older branchlets, rarely in leaf-axils, subsessile, white; pedicels concealed by bracts in bud, up to 2 mm long at flowering time and after; bracts depressed-ovate, 0.5–0.75 mm long. Calyx lobes broadly ovate to transversally elliptic or rhombic, 0.5 × 1 mm. Petals spatulate-obovate, 2 × 1–1.3 mm. Fruit globose, c. 8 mm in diameter, whitish to dark purple-black when ripe, crowned by persistent calyx lobes. |
| Type location: |
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | parvifolia: with small leaves. |
| Habitat: | |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
| Flowering time: | Sep - Oct |
| Worldwide distribution: | Restricted to southern Mozambique and northeastern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. |
| FZ divisions: | M |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | Near Endemic |
| Red data list status: | Endangered |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Burrows, J.E., Burrows, S.M., Lötter, M.C. & Schmidt, E. (2018). Trees and Shrubs Mozambique Publishing Print Matters (Pty), Cape Town. Page 712. (Includes a picture). Darbyshire, I., Timberlake, J., Osborne, J., Rokni, S., Matimele, H., Langa. C., Datizua, C., de Sousa, C., Alves, T., Massingue, A., Hadj-Hammou, J., Dhanda, S., Shah, T., Wursten, B. (2019). The endemic plants of Mozambique: diversity and conservation status Phytotaxa 136 Page 90. Matimele, H.A. (2016). An assessment of the distribution and conservation status of endemic and near endemic plant species in Maputaland Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology University of Cape Town Page 28. (Includes a picture). Stone, R.D. & Ntetha, N.A. (2013). Warneckea parvifolia (Melastomataceae–Olisbeoideae), a new “sand-forest” endemic from northeastern KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and southernmost Mozambique, and a phylogenetic analysis of eastern and southern African representatives of W. section Warnecke South African Journal of Botany 88 Pages 320 - 324. Protologue (Includes a picture). |