Botanical name |
Maerua cafra (SA No 133) |
Other names |
Witbos (Afrikaans); bush-cherry |
Family |
Capparaceae |
Dimensions |
Woody shrub or small tree, occasionally 9 m tall |
Description of stem |
Light grey to dark brown; young branches marked with lenticels |
Description of leaves |
Digitately compound with three to five obovate leaflets, dark green and densely packed; shiny, glabrous; margin entire, sometimes notched around the apex, a hair-like tip |
Description of flowers |
Large number of conspicuous white stamens, greenish towards the base over four short green sepals and at the tips, petals absent; flowers appearing in terminal clusters during September to December |
Description of seed/fruit |
Oval green berry on a single stalk, October to December |
Description of roots |
Thick, tuberous |
Variation |
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Propagation and cultivation |
|
Tolerances |
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Uses |
Leaves browsed by game; fruit eaten by birds; the roots are said to be ground up as a chicory substitute in coffee |
Ecological rarity |
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Pests and diseases |
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Other |
The unusual spelling of cafra is due to early recorded naming habits |
Location |
Wooded areas, bnushveld and rocky ridges |
Distribution |
Gauteng; Mpumalanga; Northwest; Mpumalanga; Kwazulu-Natal; Eastern Cape |
Country |
South Africa, Zimbabwe |