Cryptocarya woodii

Cryptocarya woodii, the Cape quince, is a shrub or small forest tree, native to southern and eastern Africa. Its Latin name commemorates John Medley Wood, a botanist in Natal. From mid summer the tree bears small, inconspicuous flowers.[1] The ripe fruit have a bumpy surface and are shiny, purple-black in colour. When a leaf is viewed against light some minute secretory glands are visible in the vein polygons (areolae).[2] The larvae of Papilio euphranor and Charaxes xiphares breed on the foliage of this tree.

Cryptocarya woodii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Cryptocarya
Species:
C. woodii
Binomial name
Cryptocarya woodii

References

  1. Mbambezeli, Giles, Cryptocarya woodii Engl.
  2. Van Wyk, Braam; et al. (2007), How to Identify Trees in Southern Africa, Struik, p. 28, ISBN 1770072403

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