Pteleopsis myrtifolia

Pteleopsis myrtifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Combretaceae
Genus:	Pteleopsis
Species:	P. myrtifolia
Binomial name
Pteleopsis myrtifolia (M.A.Lawson) Engl. & Diels (1900)
Synonyms
Combretum myrtifolium M.A.Lawson Pteleopsis variifolia Engl. (1894) Pteleopsis stenocarpa Engl. & Diels (1900) Pteleopsis obovata Hutch. (1917)

Pteleopsis myrtifolia ('Ptelea' = elm, 'opsis' = resembling, 'myrtifolia' = leaves like those of the myrtle) is one of some 10 African species in this genus in the family of Combretaceae. It is the only Pteleopsis species to occur in Southern Africa. Its flowers are strongly scented and perceived by humans to be either 'honey-like' or 'cloying' or even 'stinky'. The timber is red, hard and durable, and used for furniture and construction.

This is a dense, often multi-stemmed semi-deciduous small tree with a drooping habit up to 20 m tall. Bark is greyish-pink, and smooth, net-like in appearance. Leaves are opposite and simple, 10–95 mm x 6–35 mm, narrowly elliptical with acute apex and base; surface glabrous and occasionally glossy above; margins entire and may be wavy. Petiole is often hairy. Inflorescence axillary and some 45 mm long. Ellipsoid fruit with 2 or 3 wings, 10–25 mm x 5–17 mm.

It is found on rocky hillsides and stony outcrops, in evergreen and riverine forest, from sea level up to 1600 m altitude, mainly along the east coast of Southern Africa. It occurs in savanna such as Baikiaea, mopane, and miombo (Brachystegia) woodlands, and ranges from northern Zululand, the Nwambiya Sandveld of the Kruger National Park, Mozambique, westwards to Botswana, Caprivi Strip, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola and northwards to Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya where it is very rare.^[1]

This species is very like Pteleopsis anisoptera (Welw. ex M.A.Lawson) Engl. & Diels in appearance, and may yet prove to be closely related. Pteleopsis is intermediate in many characters between Combretum and Terminalia.^[2]