Tassel Berry

venosum: veined, referring to the prominent veins

Shrub or small tree. Leaves alternate, oblong to elliptic, leathery; veins sunken above, prominent below with hairs on the veins on both surfaces. Flowers in long catkin-like spikes, up to 8 cm; sexes on separate trees, male flowers yellow, female flowers reddish, unpleasantly scented. The flowers are often parasitised by insects to form a tangled mass of sterile galls. Fruits in pendulous spikes of small fleshy berries, red to purple-black when ripe, edible.

Common

Throughout Subsaharan Africa as far as Eastern Cape, South Africa.