Grewia erythraea Schweinf.
Shrub, highly branched, up to 3 m in height. Mature branches dark grey and glabrous, young shoots densely covered by stellate hairs. Leaves pale green on both sides, rounded-obovate, cuneate at the base, dentate, c. 3.8 cm long, with 3-5 veins from the base, glaucous on the upper side, pale and slightly stellate-pubescent on the underside. Inflorescences opposite to the leaves, with solitary flowers; peduncles 1-10 mm long, pedicels 2-10 mm long. Calyx with elliptic sepals 10-15 mm long. Corolla with white petals, 7-10 mm long, linear-oblong to obovate, with a nectary at the base. Ovary with 2 locules, with 2 ovules in each one; stigma widely lobulate. Fruit with 2-4 lobules, 4-5 mm in diameter, rugose.
Flowering:
In autumn-winter towards the coast of the Red Sea.
Fruiting:
Late autumn and winter.
Habitat:
Open forests, savannas, thickets, on very diverse terrains: volcanic, limestone, rocky, sandy. In dry, subdesert and desert areas. From 50-1,600(1,700) m in altitude.
Distribution:
Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Socotra archipelago, Oman, Afghanistan.
Conservation status:
Fairly rare species, but widely distributed. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
