Shrub or small tree up to c. 5 m. high; branches terete or somewhat striate, reddish-brown at first, becoming pale brown or whitish, with numerous lenticels. Leaves petiolate; lamina 3·2–8·2 × 1·2–2·6 cm., rhombic-elliptic to oblong or oblanceolate, acute or shortly and bluntly acuminate at the apex, with margin sharply serrulate, narrowly cuneate to angustate at the base, subcoriaceous, with main and subsidiary lateral nerves equally prominent and the densely reticulate tertiary venation almost equally prominent on both sides; petiole 2–4 mm. long, slender. Flowers 3–5, in umbels terminating short axillary shoots; pedicels 2–2·5 cm. long in fruit, articulated 2–4 mm. from the base. Sepals becoming carmine-pink, 15–18 mm. long, convex and accrescent in fruit. Petals and stamens as yet unknown. Carpels 5. Drupelets flattened-ovoid-cylindric, inserted at the base, 11 × 7 mm.; embryo straight.
Habitat
Deciduous woodland and evergreen littoral scrub
Range
Known only from the Beira District of Mozambique.
Altitude range
near sea-level.
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0
Distribution
Mozambique MS Cheringoma, Chinizíua, fr. 22.x.1949, Pedro & Pedrógão 8865 (LMJ; PRE).
Notes
O. beirensis is related to O. macrantha Bak. (Diporidium greveanum Van Tiegh.) from Madagascar, but differs in leaf-shape and venation.
