Euclea crispa
| Euclea crispa | |
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| Species: | E. crispa
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| Binomial name | |
| Euclea crispa (Thunb.) Gürke
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Euclea crispa (Blue guarri) is a southern African species in the Ebenaceae family, one of 35 in this family that occur in South Africa.[2] The hardy and evergreen species may form a dense stand of shrubs,[3] or grow to tree size. It is widespread and common in the interior regions of southern Africa,[4] where it occurs from middle to high altitudes.[5] It is readily recognizable from its much-branched structure and dull bluish foliage colour. Those bearing lanceolate leaves may however resemble the Wild olive,[4] another common species of the interior plateaus.
Range and habitat
It occurs in central South Africa and the Zimbabwean plateau and Eastern Highlands.[4] It is found in open or thick bush along stream banks,[6] woodland, kloofs, hillsides, open forest, along forest margins and regularly in rocky places.[4][5] It is rare in the lowveld where it is limited to rocky areas, or areas of higher rainfall.[7]
Habit
It is a rounded, dense and bushy shrub or tree,[6] reaching a height of 2 to 6 meters[6] (rarely 8 to 9 meters)[3][4], with a spreading, often symmetrical crown. It is slow-growing like its congeners, and becomes frost and drought resistant with age.[2] In Zimbabwe it is a shrub of 1 to 2m tall,[3] forming small, dense colonies, or a small tree.[5]
Description
Bole and bark
The bole is single or multi-stemmed and up to 30cm in diameter.[4] The wood is dark and hard. The bark varies from grey[6] to brown or blackish,[4] and is smooth in young trees, but rougher in older trees.[3] The bark is used as a purgative.
Foliage
The plants carry a dense canopy of simple leaves of a dull grey-green colour and a rigid, leathery lineament.[4] Variation in terms of colour, shape, texture and arrangement is however considerable.[4] Foliage colour varies from a greyish green to distinctly blue, and leaf shape varies from lanceolate to obovate.[4] New branches and foliage are covered in rust-brown scales,[3] while mature leaves may be hairy or glabrous.[7] Leaves may be opposite, sub-opposite or rarely alternate.[3] The slender petiole is 1.5 to 2 mm long.[3] The leaf veins are transparent against light, unlike the opaque venation of Wild olive trees.[4][6] Leaves may also resemble those of the Natal guarri, a species of generally lower altitudes. The leaves measure up to 5 x 1.5 cm.[7]
Flowers
They flower in summer, from October to February.[5] The very small, waxy, pendulous flowers are yellow[7] to greenish-white and borne in axillary pseudo-racemes,[4][7] holding 3 to 10 flowers each.[3] The ovaries are densely covered in bristles.[3]
Fruit
The roundish, pea-sized berries (4-5mm in diameter)[7] are considered edible when ripe.[6] They are borne on female trees only, and turn from green to reddish brown, and eventually to black as they ripen.[6][5][3] The fruit are also used as a purgative.[4] Fruit are somewhat or very hairy when green,[3] but more or less glabrous when mature.[7]
Varieties
- var. crispa – very widely distributed
- – leaves hardly wavy, with rounded apex, or acute apex with rounded tip, margins entire
- var. ovata – Karoo regions to Kuruman and southern Free State
- – leaves wavy and sometimes minutely scalloped[4]
-
foliage and bell-like flowers -
green berries on female tree -
a female tree
References
- ^ "Euclea crispa (Thunb.) Gürke". The Plant List 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ a b Stoll, Nicolette (Aug 2010). "Euclea crispa (Thunb.) Gürke subsp. crispa". plantzafrica.org. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Palgrave, Keith Coates (1984). Trees of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik. pp. 736–737. ISBN 0-86977-081-0.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Palmer, Eve (1977). A Field Guide to the Trees of Southern Africa. London, Johannesburg: Collins. pp. 283–284. ISBN 0-620-05468-9.
- ^ a b c d e Hyde, Mark; et al. "Euclea crispa (Thunb.) Sond. ex Gürke subsp. crispa". Flora of Zimbabwe. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
{{cite web}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|first=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g Tree Society of Southern Africa (1974). Trees and Shrubs of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. pp. 124–135. ISBN 0-85494-236-X.
- ^ a b c d e f g Van Wyk, Piet (1984). Field Guide to the Trees of the Kruger National Park. Cape Town: C. Struik. p. 224. ISBN 0-86977-221-X.
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