Grewia tenax
| Family: | Tiliaceae |
| Full name: | Grewia tenax (Forssk.) Fiori |
| Location: | Kyffhäuser (2416AD + 2416CB) |
| 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 |
| Photographer: | AA Dreyer |
| Date of photograph: | 22 Dec 2007 |
| Camera make: | Canon |
| Camera model: | PowerShot A700 |
| Lens aperture: | f/4.0 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/320 s |
| ISO speed: | - |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
