Cassine aethiopicaThunb. [family CELASTRACEAE], (1818). Fig. 72. [type as above]
Information
Shrub or tree up to 6 m high; branches pubescent when young, becoming glabrous with age. Leaves alternate; petiole 1–8 mm long; blade 1.6–12 x 1–5.6(–8) cm, ovate, lanceolate or oblong to elliptic or suborbicular, leathery, glabrous or pubescent, obtuse to rounded or retuse at the apex, margin entire to denticulate. Cymes pubescent or glabrous; peduncle absent or up to 20 mm long; pedicels up to 15 mm long, each flower 3–6 mm wide. Sepals 0.5–1 mm long. Petals 1–2.5 mm long. Stamens with filaments becoming reflexed. Ovary broadly ovoid to subglobose. Drupe bright red to purplish-red, 1–2 cm long, globose to ovoid, often apiculate, glabrous to puberulous.
Range
S3 Ethiopia to Guinée, Cameroun and southwards to the Cape, Madagascar, Comoro Is., Aldabra and the Seychelles.
