''Searsia dentata'', the nana-berry (English), or nanabessie (Afrikaans), is a medium-sized, deciduous tree, reaching a height of about 5 metres and a spread of 4 metres, and with a tendency to scramble through and over neighbouring trees. It occurs naturally in almost the whole of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

except the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

Provinces. Its habitat varies from sea level to the highlands of the

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within th ...

. It is frost-hardy and should be planted in full sun. The strongly aromatic leaves are usually conspicuously toothed (hence the name ''dentata''), though sometimes they may be only slightly toothed. The tree produces small, creamy-white flowers in masses, developing into small, flattened

drupes In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

(5-6mm) which turn red or orange when ripe and brown when dry. The ripe fruits are eaten by birds, while the foliage is food for the larvae of the pepper tree moth '' Bombycomorpha bifascia''.

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Further reading