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Grewia villosa

Grewia villosa
Photo: ראובן קרפ Reuven Karp, CC BY-SA 3.0

Grewia villosa is a shrub, often scrambling, that grows to about 4 m and is common in dry, semi-arid parts of Eastern Africa and South Africa. It is grown mostly as a wild or landscape shrub rather than a common garden plant.

Family
Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly and let the soil dry between waterings once established.
Soil
Well-drained, sandy or loamy soil.
Temperature
18–35 °C; protect from frost.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Africa to Indian Subcontinent
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Grewia villosa is a shrub, often scrambling and hardly exceeding 4 m in height. Leaves are fairly large, serrated and heart-shaped. It grows naturally, mainly in dry habitats. It is common in most of the semi-arid parts of Eastern Africa but may now be rare in parts of its natural distribution. It can be seen in Ein Gedi oasis in Israel, and in South Africa, where it is common. Its ripe copper-coloured fruits are eaten in East Africa.

Uses

The fruit of the Grewia villosa were eaten both while immature and green and also once they had ripened and hardened to a dark, reddish-brown. The bark was stripped off and crushed in water or chewed to a pulp which was used to wash the body as well as to clean the hair and disinfect the scalp

Other Grewia plants

Phalsa · White raisin · Brandy Bush · Donkey Berry · Mallow Family · Grewia mollis · Bhimal · Small Leaved Crossberry

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Grewia villosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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