''Trichocladus ellipticus'' is a species in the genus ''

Trichocladus ''Trichocladus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, consisting of shrubs or small trees. The distinguishing features of the genus ''Trichocladus'' are as follows: *Branches and leaves are often covered in dense, velvet-l ...

'', in the family

Hamamelidaceae Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier system ...

. It is also called white witch-hazel.Coates-Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates-Palgrave "Trees of Southern Africa", edn 3, imp. 4. Random House Struik (Pty), Ltd, Cape Town. . pp 243, 244

Description and range

An evergreen, ''Trichocladus ellipticus'' ranges in size from a scrambling shrub to a small, many-branched tree to 10m, while the subspecies ''malosanus'' reaches up to 15m. It is native to

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 ...

, eastern

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, and western

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

along the border with Zimbabwe, where it occurs in mist-belt forests, along streams and rivers, where it is often quite dominant, and in swampy areas. Wood: White, hard, and tough, often with a black centre. Bark: Young stems are covered by velvety brown hairs, maturing to greyish brown and hairless. Leaves: Leaves are entire and are both alternate and spirally arranged, elliptic to lanceolate, with a pointed tip and slightly more rounded base. Adult leaves are dark, glossy green above with dense, rusty to cream coloured hairs beneath, and are normally 7 cm long, but can range from 5 cm to 15 cm in length, and 2.5-7.5 cm wide.

Petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

is 0.5–2 cm long. Flowers: Ranging in colour from yellowish green to cream, the spiky, ragged axillary or terminal heads are about 2 cm in diameter, and closely resemble

Hamamelis Witch-hazels or witch hazels (''Hamamelis'') are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with three species in North America ('' H. ovalis'', '' H. virginiana'', and '' H. vernalis''), and one each in Japan ('' H.&n ...

in shape. Male and female parts are borne on separate flowers, either on the same specimen or different specimens (may be either

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

). Flowers from September to December. Fruit: Small, velvety, almost spherical 5x6cm capsules which split into 2 valves, each of which itself splits into two. Fruits are borne between December and February.

Subspecies

''Trichocladus ellipticus'' subsp. ''ellipticus'': Endemic to South Africa and has smaller, narrower leaves with an attenuate apex. ''Trichocladus ellipticus'' subsp. ''malosanus'':The Plant List http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/tro-15100048 Occurs in Zimbabwe and adjacent Mozambique, and has noticeably larger, broader leaves with a slightly rounded apex.

Cultivation

Grows well in cool (temperate) greenhouses. Compost and care similar to that of

Gardenia ''Gardenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, Madagascar, Pacific Islands, and Australia. The genus was named by Carl Linnaeus and John Ellis after ...

.Chittenden, Fred J., Synge, Patrick M., editors. 1977. “The Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening”, edn. 2, Oxford University Press. . Volume 4, pp. 2138-2139

Etymology

''Trichocladus'' is derived from Greek and means 'hairy-branched' (τριχός trichos, ‘hair’; κλάδος klados, ‘branch’),Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 183, 385 while ''ellipticus'', also derived from Greek (ελλειπτικός), means ‘about twice as long as broad, oblong with rounded ends, elliptic’.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15411018 Hamamelidaceae Flora of Zimbabwe Flora of South Africa Flora of Mozambique Afromontane flora