Shrub or tree, evergreen, hermaphrodite, up to 10 m in height, although when growing in good forest soils, such as the remains of primitive vegetation in some Muslim cemeteries (marabouts), there are trees up to 25 m in height. Trunk straight, or more often sinuous, short, with fissured bark on older specimens, from blackish to greyish. Branches with smooth bark, greyish-brown. Young branchlets often hairy, green or light grey. Leaves [2-7 \u00d7 1-3.5(4.3) cm], variable in shape, but easily differentiated from the former species because they are proportionally much wider \u2014in general they can be ovate, elliptic or broadly lanceolate\u2014, with entire margin, (those in trees or upper parts of shrubs have some acute or obtuse teeth; while those in lower parts of shrubs and in new shoots and saplings have a highly dentate or serrated margin, in part or in all of the leaf blade); acute or obtuse, with short petioles, opposite, \u00b1 coriaceous, glabrous, deep green, slightly lighter on the underside. Inflorescence in short axillary racemes. Flowers white, small, hermaphrodite. Calyx campanulate, green, with 4 prominent triangular teeth. Corolla with short tube ending in 4 lobes opened in the shape of a star. Stamens 2, very short, with proportionately very large anthers. Ovary with short style and bilobulate stigma. Fruit a globose drupe, sometimes ending in a small peak, green at first, then red or purple and finally black. Seeds 1-2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-13368","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n