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Deinbollia oblongifolia (Deinbollia oblongifolia)

Description

Deinbollia oblongifolia is a shrub or small tree in the family Sapindaceae. It is commonly known as the dune soap-berry and is found in coastal vegetation from the Eastern Cape of South Africa, through KwaZulu-Natal to southern Mozambique and Swaziland. It is named after Peter Vogelius Deinboll (1783-1876), a Danish botanist and plant collector. These plants can grow up to 9 m tall. The stem often branches low down and the bark is grey brown. The leaves are compound, up to 500 mm long and clustered at the ends of the branches. The flowers are white, or cream and produced on branched flowering heads at the ends of the branches. The fruit are rounded; green and velvety when young to yellow and smooth when ripe. The dune soap-berry may be confused with a young forest mahogany (Trichilia dregeana) because of the similar shaped compound leaves, however the dune soap-berry has paler green slightly matt leaves compared to the forest mahogany, which has a darker green leaf that is slightly more glossy. The leaves of the dune soap-berry are also hard textured (when mature) and not held flat as in Trichilia dregeana.

Taxonomic tree

  • Domain: Eukarya

    • Kingdom: Plantae

      • Phylum:

        • Class: Magnoliopsida

          • Order: Sapindales

            • Family: Sapindaceae

              • Genus: Deinbollia