False Bride's Bush

pavettoides: resembling a species of Pavetta ("Brides-bush"), another genus in Rubiaceae.

Shrub small to medium-sized tree. Bark pale to rusty brown, smooth or rough and scaly when older; young branchlets, 4-angled. Leaves opposite oblanceolate, up to 20 cm long, often one leaf in a pair smaller than the other, hairless except for few hairs on the midrib below; base often running down the petiole. Flowers axillary and terminal heads, whitish with protruding stamens, sweetly scented. Fruit almost round, fleshy, c. 8 mm in diameter, crowned with the remains of the calyx, hairy when ripe.

Frequent

Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.