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Botanical descriptions Habitat and ecology Distribution
Diagnostic characters : | Parasitic trees, trunk and branches with spines. Leaves simple, alternate, characteristically yellow-green. Flowers bisexual in catkin-like fascicles. Fruit a drupe. |
Habit : | Small evergreen tree (parasitic) up to 20 m high, branches ascending or horizontally to the main trunk. |
Trunk & bark : | Bole straight with fascicle of sharp spines on trunk or branches. Bark deeply fissured while juvenile stem striate, light brown, inner bark light brown-cream. |
Branches and branchlets or twigs : | Twigs slightly flattened at leaf insertion and densely pubescent when young, becoming terete and glabrous when mature. Young twigs with spines. |
Exudates : | Exudate absent. |
Leaves : | Leaves simple alternate and spiral, 10- 20 x 2.5-9 cm, narrowly to broadly elliptic or ovate, apex acute, shortly acuminate, base attenuate, margin entire, blade leathered to coriaceous, upper surface shining, glabrous, under surface glabrescent along midrib. Midrib canaliculated above, primary vein single, secondary veins oblique to the midrib, widely parallel and anastomosing at margin, tertiary veins obscure. Petiole pubescent. Stipules absent. |
Inflorescences or flowers : | Flowers small, grouped in fascicle of catkins, cauliflorous, unisexual, male flower smelling unpleasant, shortly pedicelled while female flower sessile. |
Fruits : | Fruit is a drupe with pear shape or ovoid, 1.8-3.5 by 1.3-2.6 cm, stalked, green turning yellow when ripen. . |
Seeds : | Seed(s) 1-3., nearly globose. |