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Myrsine africana
Also called African Cape Myrtle, Cape Beech, Cape Myrtle, Kurjan Seed, Small Myrsine
Myrsine africana is a dense, long-lived evergreen shrub or small tree from Africa and southern Asia, grown for its glossy dark foliage and as a clipped hedge or topiary. It is easy to grow in a sunny spot with moderate water.
Myrsine africana, also called Cape myrtle, African boxwood or thakisa, is a species of shrub in the family Primulaceae. It is indigenous to Southern and Eastern Africa, the Azores, the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia and East Asia.
Parts of the plant are used in milk and meat-based soups by the Batemi and Masai people of Africa, which is thought to reduce cholesterol levels in tribes that consume large amounts of meat. The flowers are also eaten. A powder derived from the plant's leaves is called katam (كتم), used to dye hair since ancient times.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Myrsine africana 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.
