<< Back to Search Results

Euclea undulata Thunb. [family EBENACEAE]

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 7, Part 1, page 248, (1983) Author: F. White
Names
Euclea undulata Thunb. [family EBENACEAE], Prodr.: 85 (1796). — Hiern in Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. 12: 105 (1873). — de Winter in F.S.A. 26: 95 (1963). — de Winter & F. White, Prodr. Fl. SW. Afr.107: 6 (1967). — Wild in Kirkia, 7: 29 (1968); op. cit. 9: 247 (1974). — Palmer & Pitman, Trees of Southern Afr.3:1781 cum tab. &photogr. (1972). Wild, Biegel & Mavi, Rhod. Bot. Diet., ed. 2: 163 (1972). — Drummond in Kirkia, 10: 266 (1975). — K. Coates Palgrave, Trees of Southern Afr. : 741 (1977). TAB. 68, fig. E. Type from South Africa.
Euclea undulata var. myrtina Burch. Hiern [family EBENACEAE], tom. cit.: 106 (1873). — de Winter, tom. cit,: 97 (1963). Type from South Africa, synon. nov.
Euclea myrtina Burch. [family EBENACEAE], Trav. 1: 465 (1822). Type as above.
Information
Evergreen shrub or small tree up to 6 m. tall. Young shoots glabrous except for rusty peltate scales. Leaves usually opposite or subopposite; petiole up to 0·3 cm. long; lamina up to 4 cm. long and 1·5 cm. broad, mostly obovate, oblanceolate or oblanceolate–elliptic, apex obtuse to broadly rounded, base cuneate, but not concave, margin often strongly undulate; lower surface glabrous except for peltate scales; lateral nerves and veins almost invisible. Inflorescence solitary in leaf–axils, unbranched, c. 1 cm. long. Male flowers c. 0·3 cm. long. Calyx patelliform, denticulate, glabrous except for peltate scales. Corolla deeply lobed, widely open at the throat, each lobe with 0–20 (28) strigulose hairs. Stamens c. 16, glabrous or strigulose. Pistillode with 2 simple stylodes. Female flowers without staminodes. Ovary covered with whitish scales, otherwise glabrous. Fruit c. 0·7 cm. diameter. Chromosome number: 2n = 30.
Habitat
In bushland and scrub woodland.
Altitude range
From near sea-level to 1200 m.
1200
0
Distribution
Zimbabwe C Que Que Distr., Silobela area, Vungu mine, st. 5.iii.1970, Wild 7789 (SRGH).Mozambique M Inhaca Isl., male fl.–budsix.1961, Mogg 31511 (J).Zimbabwe W Nyamandhlovu Research Station, female fl. 9.iv.1962, Denny 363 (SRGH); Kezi to Sun Yat Sen 9 km., 31.i.1973, White 10078 bis (FHO).Botswana SE Gaberones, Pharing, fl. fr. iii.1949, Miller B847 (K).
Distribution (external)
Namibia
Swaziland
South Africa
Notes
E. undulata tolerates low concentrations of copper in the soil. It is also locally dominant as dwarfed plants on soils with a high antimony and arsenic content. E. undulata is very closely related to E. divinorum, which it replaces in large parts of South Africa and Namibia. In the narrow zone of overlap they sometimes occur side by side without any sign of intermediates.
Euclea undulata Thunb. [family EBENACEAE]
PDF

Related Materials