Searsia batophylla (Codd) Moffett

Shrub 1-1.5 m tall, branching freely from the base, dioecious. Stems stiff, ascending, sparingly branched, the younger branches densely lanate, with reddish-brown bark under the tomentum. Leaves trifoliolate, petiolate; petioles 1-2 cm long, densely lanate; leaflets sessile, coriaceous, tending to fold along the midrib, elliptic to ovate or obovate, 2.5-6.5 cm long, 1.5-3 cm broad, cuneate at the base, apex acute, conspicuously serrate-dentate from base to apex; under surface covered with dense, white to cream-coloured, woolly, persistent tomentum; the upper surface thinly covered in the young stage, glabrescent with age. Inflorescence terminal and also axillary in the upper leaf axils, forming a narrow, elongate panicle 8-18 cm long and 2-4 cm wide, the main axis and branchlets densely lanate-tomentose. Flowers borne in cymose clusters; pedicels 0.5-1 mm long. Calyx pubescent, 5-partite; segments triangular, less than 1 mm long. Corolla glabrous, yellow-green; petals 5, 1-1.5 mm long. Male flowers with 5 stamens, shorter than the petals; disc present; ovary absent. Female flowers usually with 5 staminodes; ovary uniovulate, flattened, partly immersed in the disc, with 3 short styles. Fruit drupaceous, glabrous, flattened, 5-6 mm long, red when mature, eventually fading to a dull brownish colour.