Empleurum unicapsulare Druce

Shrubs or small trees up to 4 m tall, erect, willowy, totally glabrous; trunk up to 110 mm diam. at base, straight, becoming branchless up to about 1.5 m from the ground; bark smooth. Branches erect, rod-like, brownish-red. Branchlets extremely numerous, straight, slender, pale greenish-yellow, gland-dotted, ribbed with decurrent leaf bases. Leaves up to 60 mm long, usually up to 3 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, spreading, alternate; apex acute with a small sharp point; margins serrate with immersed translucent gland dots; base narrowing to a petiole 1.5 mm long; abaxial surface minutely multi-gland-dotted to either side of the depressed midrib. Inflorescence 1.2 or 3-nate, in the axils of the leaves, apparently, terminal on vestigial branchlets; flowers monoeciously polygamous with male flowers outnumbering the hermaphrodite flowers by about 3 to 1. Bract 1.5 mm long. 0.25 mm broad at base, much reduced, subulate having the margins rolled inwards, gland-dotted below, pale green, weakly ciliolate, delapsing. Bracteoles two, 1 mm long. 0.1 mm broad, vestigial, subulate having the margins rolled inwards, pinkish, thinly ciliolate, arising 0.5 mm up from the base of the pedicel, soon delapsing. Pedicel slender, gland-dotted, in the male varying in length up to 5.5 mm, but becoming twice as long or more on mature fruits. Calyx 4-lobed; in bud elliptical in cross-section with the end two lobes overlapping the inner two lobes to accommodate the anthers, lobes ovate, obtuse, gland-dotted, persisting. Petals and staminodes absent. Filaments four, becoming 4.7 mm long and spreading at anthesis, acicular, finally delapsing. Anthers four. 3.7 mm long, 1.4 mm broad, yellow, shining; apex emarginate, pale green or reddened with a large immersed oil gland. Pollen 35 µm long, 25 µm broad, elliptical, dry. Disc absent, at the base of the ovary there are several small papillae. Stigma at first a somewhat thumb-shaped and very smooth, subterete, organ arising to the side of the base of the horn immediately above the ovary, becoming 4 mm long and 0.6 mm diam., eventually delapsing. There is no particular receptive stigmatic area to be seen. Style absent. Ovary vestigial in male flowers; in hermaphrodite flowers superior, subcylindrical, with two ovules. Fruit 1-carpellate, rarely twin. 17-20 mm long including the sword-shaped horn 8-9 mm long, glabrous, shining, gland-dotted, pedicellate with the calyx persisting. Seed 6.2-8 mm long, 2.8-3 mm broad, black, shining; aril mostly black.