Eugenia verdoorniae A.e.van Wyk

Evergreen, androdioecious or andromonoecious, much-branched shrub or small tree, 1-3 m tall; branched from the base or with a single trunk up to 200 mm diam.; young branches reddish-brown to brown becoming grey when mature, sparingly covered with inconspicuous appressed hairs, branchlets becoming glabrous with age; internodes (4-)6-12(-20) mm long. Leaves decussate, petiolate; lamina dark red or pinkish when young, becoming dark green and shiny above, paler and dull below, glandular-punctate, initially covered with inconspicuous appressed hairs (especially basal third of lamina), becoming glabrous with age, narrowly elliptic to narrowly linear-lanceolate, (15-)20-40(-45) mm long, (4-)5-6(-8) mm wide, apex acute or obtuse, gradually tapering from the middle into a short petiole; venation pinnately netveined, midrib in dried leaves flat or slightly concave for basal third of length above, strongly elevated below, flat on both sides in fresh leaves; primary lateral veins alternate or opposite, 4-6 pairs, spreading, obscure above but raised below in dried leaves, obscure on both sides in fresh leaves, fused into a longitudinal slightly lobed marginal vein about 0.5 mm from the margin of the lamina, tertiary veins obscure; blade coriaceous, flat, margin entire and slightly revolute only in dried leaves; petiole 1-2 mm long, ventrally slightly canaliculate. Inflorescences usually short axillary few-flowered leafless racemes which often develop as leafy shoots, the number of flowers in a raceme sometimes reduced to one or two, flowers rarely solitary, sparingly pubescent; bracts often caducous. Staminate flowers subsessile or with pedicels 3-5 mm long, bracteoles 2, attached at the base of the hypanthium, 0.5-1 mm long, 0.3-0.4 mm wide, acute, erect, sparingly pubescent mainly on the margins. Sepals 4, subrotund, 2 large, 1-1.5 mm long, 1.8-2.5 mm wide, 2 small, 0.5-1.3 mm long, 1.5-2.0 mm wide, glabrous except for a few hairs on the margins, the abaxial surface sparingly gland-dotted. Petals 4, free, white, sometimes with a tinge of pink, more or less oval, c. 3-4 mm long, 2.5-4 mm wide, margins not ciliate, sometimes with a few (c. 5) scattered glands. Disc flat with a central depression, surface wrinkled, fleshy, sparingly pubescent. Stamens (14-)16-20(-22), arising from the disc; filaments of various lengths, (3-)4-5(-6) mm long, free to the base; anthers 2-thecous, each theca opening with a longitudinal slit, versatile, c. 1 mm long, 0.6-0.8 mm broad, all fertile. Hypanthium more or less obconical, c. 1 mm long, glabrous. Ovary abortive; style rudimentary, 0.5 mm long; stigma absent. Bisexual flowers subsessile or with pedicels 3-5 mm long; bracteoles as in staminate flowers. Sepals and petals as in staminate flowers. Disc flat with an even surface, fleshy, sparingly pubescent. Stamens (11-)14-16(-20), resembling those of the staminate flowers. Hypanthium obconical, 1.5-2 mm long. Ovary fused to the lower part of hypanthium, 2-3 locular; ovules (1-)2(-4) per locule, 1 or 2 developing; style filiform, terete, glabrous, 4-5 mm long; stigma small, slightly discoid, covered with small papillae. Fruit a fleshy red? (known only from dried specimens) berry, obovoid to subglobose, c. 18 mm diam., glabrescent with persistent calyx lobes at the apex; pericarp closely adhering to the testa-but not fused with it. Seed globose with a smooth surface, c. 10-15 mm diam.; testa woody and tough with a fibrous texture, c. 0.5 mm thick, light brown; embryo with cotyledons partly fused, light green and fleshy, not conspicuously glandular-punctate. Flowering throughout the year, but mainly from June to July.