| Synonyms: |
Pleurostylia heynei Wight & Arn, var. acutifolia Suess. |
| Common names: | Northern coffee-pear (English) |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| 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: | |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
| Flowering time: | Oct - Feb |
| Worldwide distribution: | Angola, DRC (Katanga), Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe. |
| 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 |
| 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 Troupin, G. (1983). Celastraceae Flore du Rwanda Spermatophytes Volume II Page 332. (Includes a picture). |