Stamvrug

This tree is usually known by its Afrikaans name stamvrug ("stem fruit") which refers to its habit of bearing densely clustered fruit on the trunk and thicker branches (cauliflory), a common feature of this family. The fruit are sweet with very little pink flesh - they have high latex content and are leathery-skinned. The seed is large, smooth and hard, and is covered with a soft membrane. Their bisexual flowers are similarly crowded on the trunk and branches, and smell strongly of fermenting honey. Stamvrug trees at maturity may range from 1 metre tall on exposed dip slopes with very limited soil where they are prone to stunting by fire, to about 15 metres in the shelter of kloofs (gorges) with ample water and deep soil. Crowns are densely leafy and rounded, branched almost to the base, with leaves crowded at ends of branches, densely covered in golden-brown velvety hairs below, and often with a whitish indumentum above.