''Scutia myrtina'' is a species of plant in the family
Rhamnaceae. It is commonly known as cat-thorn.
Description
''Scutia myrtina'' is a variable plant that may grow as a shrub or tree of 2-10 m tall with trunk diameter to 30 cm or often a
scandent
A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...
liane, climbing by means of thorns. Older bark is dark, corky and longitudinally fissured. Younger growth is hairy and branchlets green and angular.
The thorns are sharp, recurved and paired at the nodes, but sometimes absent.
The common name, cat-thorn, refers to the thorns that look like a cat's claw.
Leaves are
ovate
Ovate may refer to:
* Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts
*Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe
*Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd
*Vates
In modern English, the nouns vates () and ova ...
to
obovate
The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...
in shape, often
notched at the apex, but always with
mucronulate tip, opposite with usually entire margin, sometimes wavy.
The fruit is a berry with black skin and white flesh containing two to three seeds.
Distribution
The plant is found in Asia and Africa.
Conservation
''Scutia myrtina'' has not been assessed for the
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
(as at 2018-05-07), but is listed as
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
in the Red List of South African Plants.
Uses
Several species in the genus ''Scutia'' have been used in traditional medicine, such as the
Ayurvedic system from India.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3476551
Rhamnaceae
Taxa named by Nicolaas Laurens Burman