Searsia populifolia (Sond.) Moffett

Species

Angiosperms > Sapindales > Anacardiaceae > Searsia

Characteristics

Much-branched, multistemmed, gnarled shrub up to 2.5 m high. Bark grey-brown; branches divaricate, reddish when young, becoming greyish white. Leaves trifoliolate, petiolate; petiole slightly canaliculate above, (3-)8(-12) mm long; leaflets sessile, coriaceous, discolorous, dark shiny green and subglabrous above, canescent to yellowy green and tomentose-lumbricate below, hypostomatous; lamina ovate to widely elliptic to obovate, base cuneate, apex obtuse to subacute, often mucronulate; margin flat to slightly revolute, crenate to crenulate towards apex, rarely entire; venation simple craspedodromous, midrib and secondaries dull yellow, prominent below, impressed above; terminal leaflets (8-)20(-40) x (5-)13(-30) mm, lateral leaflets (4-)15(-30) x (4-)10(-21) mm. Panicles puberulous, axillary and terminal, exposed, multiflorous or much reduced with few flowers on old branches. Flowers normal, calyx puberulous. Drupe asymmetrically rhombic, lenticular, glandulaceous becoming glabrous, tricuspidate, minutely verru-cose, yellowish brown, 6.8 x 2.7-8.4 x 4.0 mm. Flowering recorded in May, July, August, September, December and February.
More
A shrub, with the habit of the preceding, but differing by the leaves and fruits. Petiole about 6 lines long, scarcely canaliculate above. Leaflets 1.5 inch long, 1-1(1/4) inch wide, glabrous above, with yellowish, impressed nerves, on the lower surface with elevated nerves, the terminal larger, obtuse at base, or tapering into a petiole 2 lines long. Fructiferous panicles not longer than the leaves. Drupe wider than long (3 lines wide, 2 lines long).
Dioecious, much-branched, deciduous shrub, up to 2.5 m tall. Leaves trifoliate, leaflets sessile, ± widely elliptic, dark shiny green above, greyish to yellowish green below, margin with small round teeth, rarely entire. Flowers greenish yellow. Drupe asymmetric, lens-shaped, with 3 persistent styles, yellowish brown. May-Sept.(-Feb.).
A shrub. It grows 2.5 m tall. It loses its leaves during the year. The leaves have 3 leaflets. The flowers are greenish-yellow. The fruit is lens-shaped and yellowish-brown.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality dioecy
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 2.5
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

It is a subtropical plant.
Light -
Soil humidity 10-12
Soil texture 7-8
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

The fruit are eaten. They are also used to curdle milk.
Uses environmental use
Edible fruits
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Searsia populifolia world distribution map, present in Namibia and South Africa

Conservation status

Searsia populifolia threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77088483-1
WFO ID wfo-0000510281
COL ID 79ZPK
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Rhus populifolia Rhus steingroeveri Toxicodendron populifolium Searsia populifolia