Nuxia gracilis

Nuxia gracilis, commonly known as the sticky nuxia, is a bushy shrub growing to heights ranging between 2 m and 3,5 m in height (SA Tree List No. 634.5).

The plant has simple, opposite leaves growing in decussate pairs. Leaf-shape is linear to oblanceolate with tapering base and rounded tip. The leaf margins are toothed in their upper halves. Leaves become up to 4,5 cm long and 8 mm wide.

The white flowers of N. gracilis grow in terminal umbels. The small flowers have ovate corolla lobes, shorter than the flower tubes; the calyx bell-shaped. The outside of the corolla tube has a covering of glandular hairs. The fruit capsules are also hairy.

The species distribution in nature is dichotomous, one part lying in Griqualand West where the Northern Cape and North West meet, the other part in Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

The plant grows along watercourses and in dry riverbeds in limestone derived soil in the Kalahari, otherwise in bushveld and grassland. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The about 45 Nuxia species occur in central and southern Africa and Madagascar (Coates Palgrave, 2002; JSTOR; http://redlist.sanbi.org).