Phylica

Phylica is a genus of shrublets, shrubs and small trees in the Rhamnaceae family. The alternate or spirally arranged leaves are ericoid, ovate or lanceolate with margins rolled under and stipules rarely present.

The usually hairy, bisexual flowers grow solitary from leaf axils or in terminal spikes, racemes or heads. The mostly cup-shaped calyx has five erect or spreading lobes that are linear or ovate, sometimes with a keel or prominent vein on the inner surface.

There are five small and clawed petals, sometimes fewer or none. They are hood-shaped, inside the calyces, significant in distinguishing among some of the species.

There are five stamens on short filaments, attached below the petals where those are present. The inferior ovary has three locules, the style minutely three-lobed. The style-base is surrounded by a hairless, nectar-secreting disc.

The fruit is usually a capsule crowned with the persistent calyx remains, dehiscent when ripe. The three-sided seeds are smooth.

There are about 188 Phylica species, all in Africa, Madagascar and some islands of the South Atlantic. Most species occur in the winter rainfall part of the Western Cape, 130 in the fynbos.

The plants are seldom browsed and sometimes used in the flower industry as filler material.

The plant in picture is Phylica rigidifolia (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Coates Palgrave, 2002).