Nymania capensis

Nymania capensis, commonly the Chinese lantern bush and in Afrikaans the klapperbos (cracker bush), is an erect shrub, sometimes a small tree that reaches heights from 2 m to 5 m (SA Tree List No. 295). The genus is monotypic, there being only this one species forming part of the Meliaceae family.

The geographic distribution is dichotomous, one part straddling the Western and Eastern Cape in the Little Karoo and parts of the Karoo, the other in the Northern Cape in the Richtersveld, other northerly parts of Namaqualand and Bushmanland, also Namibia.  

The habitat is hot and arid terrain, exposed rocky flats and slopes where the plants occur in loam or clay soils, often along watercourses. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Le Roux, et al, 2005; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).