''Trichocladus ellipticus'' is a species in the genus ''
Trichocladus'', 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 syste ...
. 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 southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
, eastern
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
, and western
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...
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 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 alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy.
Monoecy i ...
or
dioecious
Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproducti ...
). 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 and Pacific Islands, and Australia.
The genus was named by Carl Linnaeus and John Ellis af ...
.
[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