Umzithi

schlechteri: named after Friedrich Schlechter (1872-1925), German Botanist and traveller.

Deciduous shrub or small to medium-sized, often multi-stemmed tree. Bark dark grey to blackish-brown, rough, often cracked into a grid-like pattern. Leaves alternate, elliptic, 3-7 cm long, dark glossy green above, paler below; minute domatia present in the axils of the prominent lateral veins; petiole bent as if entering the leaf lamina from below. Flowers unisexual on the same tree, in axillary clusters, yellow-green, sweetly scented. Fruit 3-lobed, c. 10mm in diameter, hairless, yellow-green when ripe, splitting easily. See var. pubescens for comparison.

From Kenya to KwaZulu Natal, S Africa.