''Combretum afrum'', commonly known as Cape bushwillow, is a species of tree native to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Cape Provinces The Cape Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "CPP". It includes the Sou ...

Biochemistry

In ''C. afrum'', combretastatins A-1, A-4 and B-1 can be found.

Taxonomy

The etymology of the original species name ''caffrum'' is related to kaffir, an ethnic slur used towards black people in Africa. At the July 2024

International Botanical Congress International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of Botany, botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the locatio ...

, a vote was held with the result that "''caffrum''" related names will be emended to ''afrum'' related ones, with the implementation of this happening by the end of July 2024.

References

* * afrum Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Plants described in 1835 {{Myrtales-stub