Botanical name |
Azima tetracantha (SA No 622,1) |
Other names |
Needle-bush; speldedoring (Afrikaans); bee-sting bush |
Family |
Salvadoraceae |
Dimensions |
Scrambling, spiny shrub or small tree of about 5 m |
Description of stem |
Bark green on younger branches, turning brown, young twigs sometimes square in cross-section, hairy; characteristic whorls of four long straight spines occur along the length of branches at each of the leaf axils |
Description of leaves |
Oval to circular, opposite or nearly so, each pair at right angles to the previous and following one; light green, leathery and usually hairy; apex has a sharp tip, margin entire, tapering at both ends, short petiole |
Description of flowers |
Dioecious; light green or yellow, small flower clusters in axils; floral parts in fours; petals recurving, calyx bell-shaped |
Description of seed/fruit |
Round berry of 1 cm in diameter with a sharp apical tip; fleshy, light-coloured, containing one or two seeds; ripe from summer into the next winter; |
Description of roots |
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Variation |
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Propagation and cultivation |
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Tolerances |
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Uses |
Used for toothache and snakebite; browsed by cattle |
Ecological rarity |
Common |
Pests and diseases |
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Other |
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Location |
Bushveld and woodland, near rivers and termite mounds |
Distribution (SA provinces) |
Western Cape; Eastern Cape; Kwazulu-Natal; Mpumalanga |
Country |
South Africa; Namibia; Swaziland; Zimbabwe; Mozambique; Zambia; Malawi |