Euclea crispa subsp. linearis
(Thunb.) Gurke, (Zeyh. ex Hiern) F. White
Asbestos bush
Meise Botanic Garden
Meise Botanic Garden
Meise Botanic Garden
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
The ripe fruit are edible.
Where to Find It
It is a subtropical plant. It grows in woodland. It grows between 1,000-1,450 m above sea level. It cannot tolerate frost. It can grow in arid places.
Africa, East Africa, South Africa, Southern Africa, Zimbabwe,
How to Identify
An erect shrub or tree. It grows 1-3 m high. It has underground stems or rhizomes. The fruit are small and round. They are black when ripe
Wikipedia
Source ↗Euclea crispa, commonly known as the blue guarri, is an Afrotropical plant species of the family Ebenaceae. The hardy and evergreen plants may form a dense stand of shrubs, or grow to tree size. It is widespread and common in the interior regions of southern Africa, and occurs northward to the tropics. Though some are present near the South African south and east coasts, they generally occur at middle to high altitudes. It is readily recognizable from its much-branched structure and dull bluish foliage colour. Those bearing lanceolate leaves may however resemble the Wild olive, another common species of the interior plateaus.
Names & Synonyms
References (1)
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1999). Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Published on the Internet; http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ceb/sepasal/internet [Accessed 16th April 2011]
