Euclea natalensis subsp. angustifolia

Euclea natalensis, the Natal guarri, is a variable shrub or small tree that grows in different guises from Langebaan and the Cederberg across the Little Karoo and the Eastern Cape through coastal KwaZulu-Natal to Swaziland, Mozambique and Botswana. A series of subspecies of the tree has been recorded, associated with parts of this wide distribution.

In KwaZulu-Natal the tree is so well-known, also for its medicinal uses that eight Zulu names for the tree are recorded by www.plantzafrica.com. The specimen in picture was seen in Mpumalanga where both E. natalensis subsp. natalensis and subsp. angustifolia are found. This one is probably E. natalensis subs. angustifolia. Angustifolia means narrow leaf.

This subspecies is usually only a shrub growing from 2 m to 5 m in height. It is found on rocky bushveld outcrops at altitudes varying between 300 m and 900 m from eastern Botswana through Mpumalanga to south-eastern Zimbabwe (Coates Palgrave, 2002; www.plantzafrica.com).