Heteropyxis is a genus which includes three species of small evergreen
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s. It was previously placed along in family
Heteropyxidaceae, but is now placed basally within
MyrtaceaeThe Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five...
. The species of
Heteropyxis are native to southern
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
.
H. natalensis, commonly known as
Lavender Tree or Laventelboom, ranges from
ZimbabweZimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers...
through Limpopo,
MpumalangaMpumalanga, , is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area...
and
KwaZulu-NatalKwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994 the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and all pieces of territory that made up the homeland of KwaZulu....
of
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
. It is a slender, upright tree which grows 5-7 meters in height, at forest margins, rocky outcrops, hillsides, and termite mounds.
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Heteropyxis is a genus which includes three species of small evergreen
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s. It was previously placed along in family
Heteropyxidaceae, but is now placed basally within
MyrtaceaeThe Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five...
. The species of
Heteropyxis are native to southern
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
.
H. natalensis, commonly known as
Lavender Tree or Laventelboom, ranges from
ZimbabweZimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers...
through Limpopo,
MpumalangaMpumalanga, , is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area...
and
KwaZulu-NatalKwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994 the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and all pieces of territory that made up the homeland of KwaZulu....
of
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
. It is a slender, upright tree which grows 5-7 meters in height, at forest margins, rocky outcrops, hillsides, and termite mounds. It bears
panicleA panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches ....
s of fragrant
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s, cream to pale yellow in colour, from December to March.
Many classification schemes place
Heteropyxis within family
MyrtaceaeThe Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five...
. Recent embryological and DNA analyses seem to indicate that
Heteropyxis and
PsiloxylonPsiloxylon mauritianum is species of flowering plant, the sole species of family Psiloxylaceae. It is endemic to the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean.It is a white-barked evergreen tree, bearing essential oils....
, the sole member of family Psiloxylaceae are sister taxa to the Myrtaceae, but diverged before the origin of the common ancestor of the Myrtaceae.