Apodytes geldenhuysii

Apodytes geldenhuysii, the Cape white-pear, is a small tree or branched shrub reaching heights to about 3 m (SA Tree List No. 422.2).

The small, simple leaves are elliptic to ovate, shiny and leathery. The leaf margins are entire, sometimes wavy. The petioles are red, the midrib white and lateral veins faint or translucent. Leaf dimensions are mostly from 2,5 cm to 4 cm long and 1 cm to 1,5 cm wide.

Small, white, fragrant flowers may be found on the tree at any time of year. They grow in axillary racemes. The fruit is a nut with a fleshy appendage that turns black upon ripening.

The species distribution is in the mountains to the east of False Bay in the west of the Western Cape. The habitat is rocky fynbos outcrops in forest margins. The tree is rare being range-restricted, but its population is stable early in the twenty first century (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; http://redlist.sanbi.org).