Nuxia congesta

Nuxia congesta, commonly known as brittlewood or in Afrikaans as wildevlier, is a rounded shrub or tree from 2 m to 20 m in height (SA Tree List No. 633).

The species distribution ranges from the southeastern coast of the Eastern Cape, through KwaZulu-Natal to Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West, as well as in parts of tropical Africa.

This tree was photographed on a southern slope of the Magaliesberg, ready to burst into flower in June, the middle of the trees blooming season. This is also one of the indigenous trees still seen in protected nature areas of Johannesburg.

This tree commonly grows in rocky kloofs, grassland, evergreen forests and along forest margins at low to medium altitudes. Large specimens are typically found in wooded ravines. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; www.redlist.sanbi.org).