| Searsia laevigata | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Anacardiaceae |
| Genus: | Searsia |
| Species: | S. laevigata |
| Binomial name | |
| Searsia laevigata (L.) F.A.Barkley | |
| Synonyms | |
Rhus laevigataL. | |
Searsia laevigata, the dune currant rhus, is a small, bushy, evergreen tree that occurs in rocky fynbos slopes and coastal shrub in South Africa.
It looks very similar to its close relative Searsia glauca but has larger leaflets. It was previously classified as Rhus laevigata
This species is primarily coastal, occurring in coastal dunes along the western and southern coast of the former Cape Province, South Africa.
The low-growing variety villosa, with hairy (villose) leaflets, is exclusively coastal.
However, the hairless variety Searsia laevigata var. laevigata, while occurring along the coast, also extends inland as far as the Little Karoo in the north, and Bredasdorp in the west. [1]
South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than 2,850 kilometres from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian Ocean. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although much of the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The total land area is 1,220,813 km2 (471,359 sq mi). It has the 23rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,535,538 km2 (592,875 sq mi).
Fynbos is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate and rainy winters. The fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. In fields related to biogeography, fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of biodiversity and endemism, consisting of about 80% species of the Cape floral kingdom, where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic. This land continues to face severe human-caused threats, but due to the many economic uses of the fynbos, conservation efforts are being made to help restore it.
The Kwazulu-Cape coastal forest mosaic is a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of South Africa. It covers an area of 17,800 square kilometers (6,900 sq mi) in South Africa's Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
Searsia pendulina, commonly known as the white karee (English) or witkaree (Afrikaans), is a hardy, very fast growing, semi-deciduous tree. It is native to Namibia and to the Free State and Cape Provinces of South Africa. It occurs naturally along the Orange River and some of its tributaries.
Searsia pyroides, previously known as Rhus pyroides, is a species of Searsia, native to southern Africa. This tree occurs throughout the whole of South Africa, a part of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Tanzania and in some areas of Namibia near Windhoek.
Searsia lucida, previously known as Rhus lucida, and commonly known as the varnished kuni-rhus (English) or blinktaaibos (Afrikaans).
Searsia lancea commonly known as karee, is an evergreen, frost hardy, drought resistant tree, which can reach up to 8 metres in height with a 5-metre spread. It is one of the most common trees on the Highveld and in the Bushveld in South Africa, but not found in the Lowveld. In North America, where it is naturalized, it is known as African sumac and willow rhus.
Searsia crenata, previously known as Rhus crenata,, is a species of Searsia that is native to South Africa, where it grows in frost-free and light frost areas, especially on beach sand dunes.
Searsia glauca is a small, compact tree or bush native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa. Although commonest near the coast, it is also found inland among fynbos vegetation.
Searsia tomentosa, the real wild currant (English), umhlakoti (Zulu) or korentebos (Afrikaans), is a small, bushy, evergreen tree. It is native to South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. It occurs in fynbos and coastal shrub in South Africa, where it is naturally most common in forest margins.
Searsia angustifolia, the willow karee or smalblaar, is a small, bushy, evergreen tree which is confined to the South Western Cape in South Africa.
Osyris compressa is a facultatively hemiparasitic, mainly South African plant of the sandalwood family, Santalaceae. Until recently, the favoured binomial name was Colpoon compressum, but around 2001, the genus Colpoon was included in Osyris on the basis of comparative DNA studies. That assignment is not final, however, and according to the Kew Gardens plant list, Colpoon compressum P.J.Bergius, though still in review, is the accepted name.
Cape Flats Dune Strandveld is an endangered vegetation type. This is a unique type of Cape Strandveld that is endemic to the coastal areas around Cape Town, including the Cape Flats.
Wolfgat Nature Reserve is a coastal nature reserve in Mitchells Plain on False Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Searsia chirindensis is a medium-sized, semi-deciduous, trifoliate Southern African dioecious tree of up to 10 m tall, rarely 20 m, often multi-stemmed, occurring along the coastal belt from the Cape, through KwaZulu/Natal, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Mozambique as far north as Tanzania, and growing in a wide variety of habitats such as open woodlands, in forests, along forest margins, in the open, among rocks and on mountain slopes. It was named by Swynnerton from a specimen collected by him near the Chirinda Forest in the Chipinge District of Southern Rhodesia. This is one of more than a hundred southern African species in the genus. It is commonly known as red currant because of a fancied resemblance of the fruit to that of the European redcurrant.
Branches dull brown or blackish, cylindric, pubescent or glabrous. Petiole 1·5–6·5 cm. long, almost cylindric, narrowly canaliculate and marginate above, pubescent or glabrous. Leaflets ± dull red-brown, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire and ± undulate at the margin, membranous to ± rigid or subcoriaceous, glabrous or ± pubescent on the margin, midrib and nerves; median leaflet (3)6–13(16) × (1·2)2·5–4(7) cm., cuneate and frequently petiolulate at the base, the lateral ones (2)2·5–7(12) × (0·8)1·3–3·5(5·5) cm., asymmetric and slightly cuneate or somewhat rounded at the base, very shortly petiolulate to sessile; midrib slightly raised in the upper surface, very prominent below; lateral nerves arcuate, slender, raised on both sides, reticulation lax, almost invisible or sometimes conspicuous. Panicles terminal and axillary, ample, pyramidal, much branched, multiflorous, the terminal ones longer than the leaves, the axillary ones as long as the latter or somewhat longer; pedicels 1–2·5 mm. long. Male flowers: calyx-segments 0·5 mm. long, ovate, obtuse, glabrous; petals c. 1·5 mm. long, elliptic, obtuse; filaments c. 1 mm. long. Female flowers: ovary ovoid; styles reflexed; disk cupuliform, 5-lobulate; staminodes present. Drupe pinkish-yellow to reddish-brown, shining, (4)5(6) mm. in diam., globose, glabrous.
Eutricha capensis, the Cape lappet moth, is a species of moth in the family Lasiocampidae primarily found in South Africa. During the larval stage, Cape lappets feed on a wide variety of African plants and can often be found aggregating in gardens. The caterpillars are brightly coloured and conspicuously hairy, while the bulky adult moths are mostly brown and much less striking in appearance.
Dalbergia armata is a scrambling, deciduous species of legume that is native to subtropical to temperate regions of southeastern Africa. The robust, woody liana or small tree is armed with strong spines on the main stem and branches. It occurs sparsely or commonly in forest, bush, riparian fringes and in wooded ravines. It is sometimes employed as a bonsai subject, and it can be propagated from either seed or cuttings.
The Orange River white-eye is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae, which is native to Namibia and South Africa. It was formerly deemed conspecific with the Cape white-eye, but the two species occur sympatrically in central South Africa, and they are genetically distinct.
The South Arabian fog woodlands, shrublands, and dune is an ecoregion in Oman and Yemen. The fog woodlands lie on mountainsides which slope southeastwards towards the Arabian Sea. The mountains intercept moisture-bearing winds from the Arabian Sea, creating orographic precipitation and frequent fogs that sustain unique woodlands and shrublands in a desert region.
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