Heteropyxis natalensis

General Info – Summary

This weather dependent deciduous Tree lacks thorns and is usually up to 10m high.  It has flaking mottled bark.  Simple Leaves have entire margins and smell of lavender when crushed.  Small 5-merous bisexual Flowers have extended stamens, and the superior ovary has a style with a capitate stigma.  Fruit: a small glossy capsule protruding beyond the persistent calyx. Tiny 3-angled wind dispersed seeds are winged.

Description

SA Tree No. 455.

Common names: (Eng) Lavender tree.  (Afr) Leventelboom.  (isiZulu) Inkunzi, Inkuzwa.  (siSwati) Inkunzi, Uhuzu, Umhlosheni.  (Tshivenda) Mudedede, Munukhavhaloi.

Family: Myrtaceae (Heteropyxidaceae).  (Myrtle and Eucalyptus family) has 130+ genera and 3 000+ species and includes the Australian genus Eucalyptus, as well as guava and clove.  These mostly evergreen trees have simple Leaves that are leathery, usually entire, gland-dotted and usually opposite.  Stipules are very small or absent.  Flowers are regular usually bisexual and 4 or 5-merous.  However, petals may be small or absent.  The many Stamens are inflexed in the bud and Anthers are 2-thecous (with 2 pollen sacs).  They usually open by lengthwise slits.  The usually inferior Ovary has a simple Style with a capitate Stigma.  The Fruit is a capsule or berry with a persistent Calyx.  Local genera with trees on this website include Eugenia, Heteropyxis, Metrosideros (Western Cape) and Syzygium.

Name derivation: Heteropyxis – means distinct, or different with a box like lid – referring to the capsule.  natalensis – from Natal – now KwaZulu-Natal.  The other 2 local species are Heteropyxis canescens, and Heteropyxis dehniae.  One species occurs in Mauritius.

Conservation: National Status: L C. (Least Concern).  Assessed: 2005/06/30 (W. Foden and L. Potter).

Tree

The height of this Tree with its small, rounded crown (photo 247) and crooked stem is usually up to 10m but may reach 15m in ideal conditions e.g., in Zimbabwe.  It can also be a shrub.  From a distance, the slender Trunk may appear white, grey or even orange and may have more than one stem (photo 822).  It is slender and can be crooked or even grooved.  The Bark may be smooth or flaking on old trees, leaving a distinctive mottled grey appearance (photo 725).  Like Heteropyxis canescens, fairly large pieces may flake off from older stems revealing an orange under-bark (photo 725), which soon fades (photo 836) and eventually becomes white or grey (photo 385).  Leaf scars are visible on youngish stems (photo 287).  Twigs (1-year-old current branch segments) are hairless and smell of lavender when crushed.  No thorns are present on this plant.

Leaves

Tiny greenish-white buds develop into small, whitish or creamy yellow, sweetly fragrant Flowers – each about 3mm wide.  Flowers occur in spreading axillary and terminal Panicles (indeterminate, branched inflorescence with stalked flowers – photos 229 & 326).  Flowers are actinomorphic (Regular, symmetrical and are vertically divisible into similar halves by more than one plane passing through the axis).  The Pedicels (flower stalks – photo 326) are hairy.  Flowers are perigynous (having sepals, petals, and stamens around the edge of a cuplike receptacle containing the ovary).  The gland dotted Calyx (is the outer whorl of floral envelopes and consists of outer leaf-like structures called Sepals at the flower base.  These sepals protect the bud during development – photo 627 – under Fruit).  The collectively overlapping 5 sepals are cup shaped.  The Corolla (the second whorl of the floral envelopes) has 5 free, imbricate (having regularly arranged, overlapping edges, like roof tiles) and early falling White Petals (photo 635) that alternate with the sepals.  The Androecium is the male flower element.  Here are seemly borne the often 5 parts each, of the calyx, corolla and stamens.  Using a good hand lens here is important.  The Disc is a more or less fleshy or elevated development of the Receptacle (the expanded tip of the flower stalk from which the floral parts develop.  It is greatly expanded in the Asteraceae and Ficus) is well developed.  The Anthers (where the pollen grains are formed) usually have 5 initially folded Filaments (the long white slender stalks that supports each anther).  These straighten extending the anthers (with 2 thecae – pollen sacks) well above the corolla (photo 635).  The Pistil (a unit of the Gynoecium, the female element of the flower.  It is composed of the Ovary, Style (a more or less elongated part of the pistil situated between the ovary and the stigma).  The style ends in a pollen receiving Stigma.  The almost spherical superior Ovary ((hypogynous) one that is free from the calyx or perianth).  The Ovary is usually 2-3 locular (compartment within an organ) has numerous Ovules.  The style is slightly persistent (see photo 627 under Fruit).  In this photo, the slightly capitate (formed like a head) Stigma is visible.  (Dec – Mar) or early summer.

Flowers

Tiny greenish-white buds (photo 229) develop into small, whitish or creamy yellow, sweetly fragrant Flowers – each about 3mm wide.  Flowers occur in spreading axillary and terminal Panicles (indeterminate, branched inflorescence with stalked flowers – photo 326).  Flowers are actinomorphic (Regular, symmetrical and are vertically divisible into similar halves by more than one plane passing through the axis).  The Pedicels (flower stalks – photo 627 under Fruit) are hairy.  Flowers are perigynous (having sepals, petals, and stamens around the edge of a cuplike receptacle containing the ovary).  Here the Receptacle is the expanded tip of the pedicel from which the floral parts develop.  It is greatly expanded in the Asteraceae and Ficus flowers.  The gland dotted Calyx (is the outer whorl of floral envelopes and consists of outer leaf-like structures called Sepals at the flower base.  These sepals protect the bud during development – photo 627 – under Fruit).  Here the collectively overlapping 5 sepals are cup shaped.  The Corolla (the second whorl of the floral envelopes) has 5 free, imbricate (having regularly arranged, overlapping edges, like roof tiles) and early falling White Petals (photo 635) that alternate with the sepals.  The Androecium is the male flower element.  Here are seemly borne the often 5 parts each, of the calyx, corolla and stamens.  Using a good hand lens here is important.  The Disc is a more or less fleshy or elevated development of the receptacle.  The Anthers (where the pollen grains are formed) each rest on 1 of the 5 initially folded Filaments (the long white slender stalks that supports each anther).  These filaments straighten, extending the anthers (each with 2 thecae – pollen sacks – photo 635) well beyond the rest of the flower.  The Pistil is a unit of the Gynoecium, the female element of the flower.  It is composed of the Ovary (female organ: where protection, development and fertilization and occur), Style (a more or less elongated part of the pistil situated between the ovary and the stigma) and each style ends in a pollen receiving Stigma.  The hypogynous/superior Ovary (one that is free from the calyx or perianth) is almost spherical (photo 627 under Fruit).  The ovary is usually 2-3 locular (compartment within an organ) has numerous Ovules (female reproductive cells occur and eventually become seeds).  The style is slightly persistent (see photo 627 under Fruit).  In this photo, the slightly capitate (formed like a head) Stigma is visible. (Early summer or Dec – Mar).

Fruit

The Fruit is initially green (photo 627) however, once the white corolla petals fall, the remains are yellowish (photo 723).  Here the Pedicel (the short stalk that supports each flower, then the fruit, become visible – photo 244).  In young fruit the green persistent Calyx has 5 visible sepals (3 are visible surrounding the base in the enlarged photo 627).  The old Styles are still visible in the early stages of fruit formation (photos 723 & 627).  In photo 627 the stigma appears reddish).  The mature Fruit is small, spherical or broadly ellipsoidal and becomes oval, gland dotted and brownish.  Each fruit is a small dehiscent Capsule (a dry fruit resulting from the maturing of a compound ovary).  It is up to about 3 x 2mm with a small pedicel.  Fruit occurs in dense clusters, with more than half its length eventually protruding beyond the persistent Calyx.  Each capsule finally splits from the apex (photo 627) to release the tiny, brown and 3-angled, wind dispersed Seeds.  Old capsules may remain on the tree for months (photo 244).  Mar-Jul.

Distribution & Ecology

These Trees are endemic in southern Africa. (Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location).  They occur inland in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo as well as Siswati (Swaziland), mainly southern Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe.  This tree Grows in the bushveld (a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of southern Africa), riverine bush and rocky slopes in mixed deciduous woodland, and from close to sea level to 2 000m.  Leaves attract bees, moths and butterflies.  Black Rhino, Grey-duiker and Kudu browse the Leaves.  Rhino also eats the Bark.  Flowers attract butterflies, bees and wasps.

Ethnobotany

Leaves are used to scent tobacco and for a perfume and for potpourri (a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl to perfume a room).  Black Rhinos consume bark and leaves.  Kudus, (Tragelaphus strepsiceros are large woodland antelope with impressive hons) eat the leaves.  The Wood is a brownish purple, fine grained, hard and tough.  It is used for fence posts and charcoal.  It is a good garden tree and used in bonsai (Japanese art of growing and shaping miniature trees in containers).  Herbal tea and perfume can be made from the Leaves.  Trees can be Grown from seeds or cuttings and do best in neutral or slightly acidic soil.  Growth is relatively fast – up to 1m per year.  The tree is frost sensitive when young.  Plants do best in full sun.  They are good for bonsai.  Local medicine makes use of roots, leaves, twigs and bark.  The trees develop well in a small garden.  A tree was planted for childrens shade in Trinity Methodist Church, in 1st avenue Linden.

References

Boon, R. 2010. Pooley’s Trees of eastern South Africa. Flora and Fauna Publications Trust, Durban.

Burrows, J.E., Burrows, S.M., Lotter, M.C. & Schmidt, E. 2018. Trees and Shrubs Mozambique.  Publishing Print Matters (Pty) Ltd.  Noordhoek, Cape Town.

Coates Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates Palgrave Trees of Southern Africa, edn 3. Struik, Cape Town.

Foden, W. & Potter, L. 2005. Heteropyxis natalensis Harv. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2024.1. Accessed on 2026/02/14.

Mhlonishwa D Dlamini & Andrew Hankey. Witwatersrand National Botanical Gardens. June 2002

Palmer, E. & Pitman, N. 1972. Trees of southern Africa. Balkema, Amsterdam, Cape Town.

Schmidt, S. Lotter, M. & McCleland, W. 2002. Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and the Kruger National Park. Jacana, Johannesburg.

van Wyk, B. & van Wyk, P. 1997 Field guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Struik, Cape Town.

 

file:///C:/Users/Probook/Downloads/382-1452-1-PB.pdf

http://plantzafrica.com/planthij/heteropnatal.htm

http://witkoppenwildflower.co.za/heteropyxis-natalensis/

http://www.operationwildflower.org.za/index.php/albums/trees/heteropyxis-natalensis-jw-1610

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteropyxis

http://posa.sanbi.org/flora/browse.php?src=SP

http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/