''Gymnosporia nemorosa'' is a spiny, somewhat sprawling evergreen shrub or small tree with drooping branches growing to some 5 m tall and found along forest edges in
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 ...
,
Eswatini
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...
,
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 ...
south to the
Garden Route
The Garden Route (Afrikaans: ''Tuinroete'') is a stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa which extends from Witsand in the Western Cape to the border of Tsitsikamma Storms River in the Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant an ...
in the Southern Cape. In
Maputaland
Maputaland is a natural region of Southern Africa. It is located in the northern part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa between Eswatini and the coast. In a wider sense it may also include the southernmost region of Mozambique. The bi ...
the species adopts the form of a
geoxylic suffrutex or ‘underground’ tree, with shoots sprouting from its woody, underground
axis.
Its fragrant white, unisexual flower clusters grow in the axils of leaves on lateral shoots resembling spines. Dusky-pink, pear-shaped, pendulous fruits are about 15mm in length and the same in diameter, dehiscing along three longitudinal lines to produce 3 valves curling back from the distal end to reveal orange arils enclosing the seeds. Leaves are alternate or tufted, hairless, leathery, 25-50mm long, with slightly serrate margins, ovate to round in shape, glossy and dark green above, paler beneath, emarginate to acute, depressed apex. Branchlets are spiny and densely spotted with pale lenticels. Larvae of the African moth
Drepanogynis cambogiaria' (Guenée, 1858) feed on this species and on other members of the
Celastraceae. This is one of the species frequently browsed by
Black Rhino in the
Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park.
Phytochemicals
Galactitol
Galactitol (dulcitol) is a sugar alcohol, the reduction product of galactose. It has a slightly sweet taste. In people with galactokinase deficiency, a form of galactosemia, excess dulcitol forms in the lens of the eye leading to cataracts.
Gala ...
,
β-amyrin
The amyrins are three closely related natural chemical compounds of the triterpene class. They are designated α-amyrin (ursane skeleton), β-amyrin (oleanane skeleton) and δ-amyrin. Each is a pentacyclic triterpenol with the chemical formula C ...
,
Lupeol derivatives,
Friedelin
Friedelin is a triterpenoid chemical compound found in '' Azima tetracantha'', '' Orostachys japonica'', and ''Quercus stenophylla''. Friedelin is also found in the roots of the ''Cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in t ...
derivatives,
Tingenone,
20-hydroxy-20-epi-tingenone['Chemotaxonomie der Pflanzen: Eine Übersicht über die Verbreitung und die systematische Bedeutung der Pflanzenstoffe, Band 9' - R. Hegnauer]
Etymology
Nemus -oris = grove. cf.
nemoral = 'pertaining to a wood or grove' and
Nemoralia
The Nemoralia (also known as the Festival of Torches or Hecatean Ides) is a three-day festival originally celebrated by the ancient Romans on the Ides of August (August 13–15) in honor of the goddess Diana. Although the Nemoralia was originally ...
External links
Gallery at iSpot
Gallery
Maytenus nemorosa05.JPG, Lenticels
Maytenus nemorosa06.JPG, New shoot
Maytenus nemorosa08.JPG, Immature fruits
Maytenus nemorosa12.JPG, Flowers
Maytenus nemorosa16.jpg, First description from "Enumeratio Plantarum Africae Australis Extratropicae" - Ecklon & Zeyher (1835)
References
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15341583, from2=Q15329827
nemorosa
Geoxyles