Ihlotshane

oppositifolia: with opposite leaves

Multi-stemmed shrub or small tree. Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3, narrowly oblong, 4-9 cm, light green or greyish-green, finely hairy when young, glabrous when older; base tapering, running down the petiole; margin entire or bluntly serrate. Flowers small, white, in axillary and terminal branched heads. Fruit a small capsule, c. 3 mm, only just protruding from the persistent calyx.

Eastern, South-central and South Africa, Arabia and Madagascar