Mystroxylon aethiopicum subsp. schlechteri

Mystroxylon aethiopicum subsp. schlechteri, the bushveld kubu-berry, is a shrub or tree that may reach 12 m in height. The bark is grey and smooth, becoming dark brown and rough with fissuring. Young branchlets are often velvety.

The leaves spiral up the stems on stalks between 3 mm and 8 mm long. The leaf-shape is elliptic to narrowly so with a tapering and sometimes shallowly notched tip; the leaf-base also tapers. The leaf colour is pale to dark green above and sometimes glossy, paler and sometimes velvety below. Leaf texture is leathery. The midrib and lateral veins are creamy yellow and conspicuous on the lower surface, sometimes hairy. Young leaves are sparsely velvety, becoming smooth. The margins are finely toothed. The leaves are about 5,5 cm long and 2 cm wide.

This subspecies is distributed in the northeast of South Africa in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, as well as widely beyond the border. The photo was taken at Mjejane on the Crocodile River.

The habitat is montane forests, forest margins, riverine forests and open woodland, often on termite mounds and rocky slopes. The subspecies is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century. The leaves are browsed by game and stock. The bark is used medicinally (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; http://redlist.sanbi.org).