Plants photographed elsewhere in Namibia (not on Kyffhäuser)
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Grewia tenax (Forssk.) Fiori


Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record    (Click here to see images of this plant from Kyffhäuser)

Grewia tenax

Image 1
Leaves
02 Apr 2015

Grewia tenax

Image 2
Fruit
02 Apr 2015



Family: Tiliaceae
Full name: Grewia tenax (Forssk.) Fiori
ID status: Fairly certain
Afrikaans common name(s): Kleinblaarkruisbessie, Kruisbessie
English common name(s): Small-leaved (white) cross-berry, White cross-berry
Synonym(s): Chadara tenax Forssk.
Grewia betulaefolia Juss.
Grewia betulifolia Schinz
Grewia populifolia Vahl
Grewia rupestris Dinter & Schinz
Grewia tenax (Forssk.) Fiori var. betulifolia (Juss.) Maire
Grewia tenax (Forssk.) Fiori var. capillipes Lanza
Grewia tenax (Forssk.) Fiori var. glechomifolia Chiov.
Grewia tenax (Forssk.) Fiori var. ribesifolia Fiori
Status: Native
Description: White flowers.

Shrub, up to 2 m. Leaves circular to obovate, rough to the touch; margin dentate. Flowers single, leaf-opposed. Sepals green outside, white inside. Petals white, linear and 2-toothed at apex. Fruit in a distinct cluster of 4 carpels, shiny. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website)

Shrub, 1–6 m high; branches grey to brown, glabrous to puberulous, with numerous white lenticels. Leaves green to pale green, glabrous to pubescent; petiole 5–12 mm long, pubescent; blade ovate to orbicular, sometimes broader than long, 1–4.5 x 1–3.8 cm, rounded to acute at the apex, rounded to subcordate at the base, with crenate-serrate margin. Inflorescences leaf-opposed, solitary, 1.5–3(–4) cm long; peduncle 2–10 mm long; pedicel 4–10 mm long. Sepals 10–15 mm long. Petals white, elliptic-oblong to obovate, 7–10 mm long, with nectar-producing claw. Ovary 2-celled with 4 ovules in each cell; style with 4 broad stigma-lobes. Fruit 2–4-lobed, each lobe 5–6 mm in diam.; stone smooth. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Somalia)

Small shrub up to 2 m tall, branches glabrescent. Leaf-blade up to 30 x 20 mm, orbicular to obovate, broadly rounded at the apex, rounded or abruptly cuneate at the base, rather coarsely dentate, slightly scabrous-pubescent with tufted hairs, especially below, or glabrescent; greyish green, coriaceous; petiole up to 10 mm long but usually much less, pubescent with tufted hairs; stipules up to 4 mm long, filiform, pubescent. Flowers always borne singly, leaf-opposed; peduncles about 10 mm long, almost glabrous, slender; pedicels similar, up to 10 mm long, the whole giving the appearance of an articulated pedicel; bracts about 1.5 mm long, glabrescent. Sepals greenish, 10-18 mm long, shortly pubescent outside, white and glabrous inside, linear-oblong. Petals white with a linear and often bidentate lamina almost as long as the sepals and narrower than the basal nectariferous claw which is circumvillous within, ledged above and up to 1.5 mm tall. Androgynophore with a basal glabrous portion up to 1.5 mm tall and a closely pubescent upper portion up to 1.5 mm tall. Ovary 4-lobed, glabrous or glabrescent; style about 10 mm long, glabrous; stigma-lobes broad. Fruit about 10 mm in diam., 4-lobed, shining, glabrous. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Zambesiaca)

Small shrub up to 2 m tall, branches glabrescent. Leaf-blade up to 30 x 20 mm, orbicular to obovate, broadly rounded at the apex, rounded or abruptly cuneate at the base, rather coarsely dentate, slightly scabrous-pubescent with tufted hairs, especially below, or glabrescent; greyish green, coriaceous; petiole up to 10 mm long but usually much less, pubescent with tufted hairs; stipules up to 4 mm long, filiform, pubescent. Flowers always borne singly, leaf-opposed; peduncles about 10 mm long, almost glabrous, slender; pedicels similar, up to 10 mm long, the whole giving the appearance of an articulated pedicel; bracts about 1.5 mm long, glabrescent. Sepals greenish, 10-18 mm long, shortly pubescent outside, white and glabrous inside, linear-oblong. Petals white with a linear and often bidentate lamina almost as long as the sepals and narrower than the basal nectariferous claw which is circumvillous within, ledged above and up to 1.5 mm tall. Androgynophore with a basal glabrous portion up to 1.5 mm tall and a closely pubescent upper portion up to 1.5 mm tall. Ovary 4-lobed, glabrous or glabrescent; style about 10 mm long, glabrous; stigma-lobes broad. Fruit about 10 mm in diam., 4-lobed, shining, glabrous. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Southern Africa)

Slender, deciduous shrub. LEAVES small, leathery; dark green above; grey-green below; both surfaces slightly hairy to hairless. FLOWERS solitary, leaf-opposed, small and white. FRUIT deeply four-lobed (occasionally 2–3-lobed); small, yellow to orange-red. (from Tree Atlas of Namibia)
Link(s) African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science
Kew Herbarium Catalogue
BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium
Züricher Herbarien
iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer)
iNaturalist (Namibia)
iNaturalist (southern Africa)
Flora of Zimbabwe
Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie
Tree Atlas of Namibia
Content last updated: 18 Apr 2024


Note: The identification of some of the plants on this website is not 100% certain. Any comments will be highly appreciated. I would also be willing to supply higher resolution images upon request. Please contact me at the e-mail address given below.

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