''Heteropyxis'' is a genus which includes three species of small evergreen trees. It was previously placed along in family Heteropyxidaceae, but is now placed basally within

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

. The species of ''Heteropyxis'' are native to southern Africa. ''Heteropyxis natalensis'', commonly known as lavender tree or ''laventelboom'', ranges from Zimbabwe through Limpopo,

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

and

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

of South Africa. It is a slender, upright tree which grows 5–7 metres in height, at forest margins, rocky outcrops, hillsides, and termite mounds. It bears

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

s of fragrant flowers, cream to pale yellow in colour, from December to March. Many classification schemes place ''Heteropyxis'' within family

. Recent embryological and DNA analyses seem to indicate that ''Heteropyxis'' and ''

Psiloxylon ''Psiloxylon mauritianum'' (known locally as "bois bigaignon") is a species of flowering plant, the sole species of the genus ''Psiloxylon''. It is endemic to the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius and Réunion) in the Indian Ocean. It is a white-ba ...

'', the sole member of family Psiloxylaceae are sister taxa to the Myrtaceae, but diverged before the origin of the common ancestor of the Myrtaceae.

References

* Tobe, Hiroshi and Raven, Peter H. "Embryology and Systematic Position of Heteropyxis (Myrtales)". ''American Journal of Botany'', Vol. 74, No. 2 (Feb., 1987), pp. 197–208. Myrtaceae genera Flora of South Africa Flora of Zimbabwe {{rosid-tree-stub