Itea rhamnoides (Harv.) Kubitzki

Small tree or scrambling shrub, 3-4 m high; dioecious or polygamous. Leaves spirally arranged, simple, elliptic, up to 75 x 50 mm, usually glandular-serrate, penninerved, midrib and lateral veins prominent below, often with domatia in axils; stipules absent or minute. Inflorescences dense, much-branched, axillary panicles, shorter than leaves. Flowers bisexual or unisexual, greenish yellow. Ovary partly inferior, 2-locular; ovules many on axile placentas. Flowering time Aug.-Oct. Fruit a small, leathery capsule, dehiscing septicidally through persistent styles, many-seeded. Seeds small, obovoid, sculptured, black.