Cliffortia acanthophylla C.Whitehouse

Erect, medium shrub, up to 1.8 m high, killed by fire; only forming long branches; young stems 2.4-3.0 mm wide, sometimes tinged reddish, completely sheathed by leaf bases, glabrous. Leaves unifoliate, narrowly triangular to lanceolate, 15-39 x 3.8-9.0 mm, apex sharply pungent, 1.3-1.8 mm long, margins markedly turned upwards, entire and smooth or with up to 4 long, straight teeth, 1.8-4.3 mm long; lamina 6-11-veined from base, tough and rigid, 0.4-0.6 mm thick, curved downwards and away from stem, glabrous above and beneath; sheath 2.7-4.9 mm long, abaxially glabrous, adaxially glabrous except sometimes for fringe of hairs at apex; stipules 3.8-5.5 mm long, free, margin smooth; petiole absent. Flowers solitary in axil of undifferentiated leaves; bracteoles hairy on keel, margins smooth; sepals 3, glabrous. Male flowers: bracteoles 5.6-6.5 mm long; pedicel 1.0-1.1 mm long, glabrous; sepals broadly ovate, 5.7-7.2 x 3.0-3.9 mm, acute to acuminate at apex; stamens 29 or 30; filaments 4.5-6.5 mm long, greenish white; anthers yellow. Female flowers: bracteoles 5.8-7.0 mm long, longer than immature receptacle; sepals broadly ovate to triangular, 1.9-4.2 x 0.8-1.8 mm, erect; carpel 1; stigma 2.5-4.2 mm long, greenish white, feathery, hidden at base of leaves; immature receptacle 2.4-3.0 x 1.8-2.4 mm, glabrous, smooth. Achene ovoid to globose, 7.2-9.4 x 5.9-7.4 mm, medium to dark brown, glabrous; ribs rounded.