446.
Natal Bottle Brush, Glossy Bottlebrush Greyia sutherlandii
Order: Geraniales. Family: Melianthaceae (formerly: Greyiaceae)
Mike's Pass, Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal
Description
Greyia sutherlandii is a small tree, 3 to 7 m high. It is deciduous and in late autumn the leaves turn shades of bright red.
This is a single-stemmed, low-branching tree with a crooked trunk and large branches that spread widely to form a round to irregular canopy. The large, dark branches are visible in the canopy.
The leaves are simple, alternate, rather leathery, slightly lobed and coarsely toothed. The upper-surface is dark green with a pale green under-surface, and numerous veins that radiate from the base (50 - 150 x 110 mm). The leaf stalk is long and straight.
The leaves are crowded towards the end of thick branchlets and twigs.
The flowers are red, with oblong petals and long protruding stamens. The showy flowers open in closely packed racemes at the tips of the branches and bloom at the end of winter and early spring. The bell-shaped flowers have long stamens and grow in tightly packed, brush-like spikes at the end of twigs and branchlets (Aug - Oct) (Spike: 120 mm; individual: 20 mm).
The small fruit is a pale brown, cone-shaped capsule that appears between the old flowers and is not readily visible (Aug - Mar) (20 mm).
The wood is pale pink and generally light and soft. Young trees are compact and old trees do not grow tall but they spread and have rough, dark trunks.
Taxonomy
There are only three species of Greyia in the world and they are all from South Africa. Some botanists assign them to the distinct family Greyiaceae.
Distribution
Eastern Cape, the eastern Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland and eastern Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga.
Habitat
It grows on cool and warm slopes and rocky ridges of the Drakensberg up to an altitude of about 1 800 m.
Links:
Wild about Trees;
Rina Grant, Val Thomas: Sappi Tree Spotting: Highlands: Highveld, Drakensberg, Eastern Cape Mountains