Broad Leaved Waxberry

pilulifera: bearing hairs

Shrub or small tree. Leaves elliptic to obovate, usually c. 7 × 3 cm, yellowish-green, leathery, velvety when young, becoming glabrescent later, lateral veins ridged, Y-shaped near the margin; margin entire or coarsely serrate. Flowers in catkin-like inflorescences, sexes separate on the same tree or on different trees. Fruit in dense clusters of small brown to black berries along the branches, c. 4-5 mm in diameter, spherical, coated in waxy substance.

Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and S Africa as far as the KwaZulu-Natal