Smodingium argutum stems

The stem of Smodingium argutum tends to be crooked, covered in grey-brown and peeling bark. Young branches are often long, twining shoots covered in hair. The plant in the photo has lost its main stem, a few coppices making a new beginning.

This tree or shrub closely resembles some Searsia species, but it has a winged fruit that contains an aromatic oil.

The tree is pretty and fast growing, but only the counterphobic will look past its attributes of being both poisonous and causing skin blistering to grow it in the garden (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Pooley, 1993).