''Searsia angustifolia'', the willow karee or smalblaar, is a small, bushy, evergreen tree which is confined to the South

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Description

The multi-stemmed willow karee bush grows to a height of about . It has trifoliate leaves with dark green surfaces and grey furry undersides. The leaflets are each lanceolate to narrowly elliptical. Its flowers appear in Spring. They are small and cream coloured. The female plants produce clumps of tiny berries.

Distribution and habitat

This species is indigenous to the

Western Cape Province The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabi ...

. Its range extends from

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in the west, eastwards to the Caledon and

Swellendam Swellendam () is the third oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town and Stellenbosch), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them buildings of Cape D ...

regions. In the north, it occurs in the Malmesbury, Worcester, Hex river and Cedarberg regions. It grows on low hill slopes and dense thickets of it can be found growing alongside rivers and roads.Coates Palgrave, M. (2002) ''Trees of southern Africa''. Struik, Cape Town.

References

* angustifolia Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Trees of South Africa Renosterveld {{Anacardiaceae-stub