Mimusops zeyheri

Mimusops zeyheri, the Transvaal red milkwood or in Afrikaans moepel, is sometimes only a big shrub of three m tall, but commonly a small to medium-sized tree reaching heights up to 15 m (SA Tree List No. 585). Damaged plant parts exude a milky latex.

The species distribution is across all the provinces north of the Vaal River as far south as the Magaliesberg, the far north of KwaZulu-Natal and widespread in tropical East Africa.

The habitat is hot, low altitude regions that receive good summer rain. The trees grow on wooded, rocky slopes, along streambanks, forest margins, open woodland and dry bushveld. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The tree produces larval food for certain butterflies that may defoliate branches and weave webs among them (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Pooley, 1993; Codd, 1951; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).