Ochna natalitia

Ochna natalitia, the Natal plane or the showy ochna becomes a rhizomatous shrublet, occasionally a small tree (SA Tree List No. 481). It is here growing to about 1 m tall among granite boulders in the Sabie region; the leaves quite yellow at the end of their season in July, although the plant isn’t normally seen without leaves.

The species distribution is coastal in the south in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, spreading across South Africa north of the Vaal River and into Swaziland, Mozambique and southern Zimbabwe. It is seen on rocky outcrops and in bushveld.

The showy ochna grows golden yellow flowers in branched heads in spring to midsummer (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997).