About Aphloia theiformis (Vahl) Benn.
Aphloia theiformis is an evergreen shrub or small tree that grows up to 10 m (33 ft) tall. Its young branches are hairless, brown, marked with lengthwise stripes, and have wings that extend from the nodes and narrow downward. Leaves are arranged alternately in two rows along the branches. Leaf blades are elliptic, 3–8 cm (1.2–3.1 in) long and 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in) wide, with a pointed or rounded tip, a (broadly) wedge-shaped base, and saw-toothed margins that are most prominent from below the midlength to the tip. There are about ten pairs of inconspicuous side veins, and the leaf tissue is papery and hairless. Leaf petioles are 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) long. Flowers grow one, two, or three together in the leaf axils, borne on greenish pedicels up to 2 cm (0.79 in) long. Each pedicel also carries bracts up to 1.8 mm (0.071 in) long that are split into three lobes. Individual flowers have an undifferentiated perianth made up of four or five (rarely six) slightly leathery tepals. The tepals are white when fresh, turning yellowish later, oval to round, concave, 2.5–3.5 mm (0.10–0.14 in) across, and interlocked at their base. Many stamens are present, each with a hairless filament 3 mm (0.12 in) long, topped by a round anther 0.7 mm (0.028 in) in diameter. The ovary is formed from a single carpel, oval in shape, 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long, and sometimes stipitate (borne on a short stalk). It is topped by a shield-shaped grooved stigma, carried on a very short style. When mature, the ovary develops into a fleshy white berry about 8 mm (0.31 in) in diameter, with the stigma still retained. The berry contains around ten roundish, slightly flattened seeds that are 2.5–3 mm (0.10–0.14 in) across.
