About Searsia chirindensis (Baker fil.) Moffett
Searsia chirindensis (Baker fil.) Moffett is a medium-sized, semi-deciduous, trifoliate, dioecious tree native to Southern Africa. It typically reaches up to 10 m in height, and rarely grows to 20 m. It is often multi-stemmed. It occurs along the coastal belt, ranging from the Cape, through KwaZulu/Natal, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, as far north as Tanzania. It grows in a wide variety of habitats, including open woodlands, forests, forest margins, open areas, among rocks, and on mountain slopes. It was named by Swynnerton from a specimen he collected near Chirinda Forest in the Chipinge District of Southern Rhodesia. It is one of over 100 Southern African species that belong to the genus Searsia. It is commonly called red currant, because its fruit was thought to resemble the fruit of the European redcurrant. Its dried branches are dull brown or blackish, cylindric, and may be either pubescent or glabrous. The petiole is 1.5–6.5 cm long, almost cylindric, narrowly canaliculate and marginate on the upper side, and is either pubescent or glabrous. Leaflets are generally dull red-brown, shaped ovate or ovate-lanceolate, and end in an acuminate tip; the acumen is flat or sometimes falcate, very acute, and apiculate. Leaflet margins are entire and somewhat undulate. Leaf texture ranges from membranous to fairly rigid or subcoriaceous. Leaflets may be glabrous, or somewhat pubescent along the margin, midrib, and nerves. The median leaflet measures (3)6–13(16) cm long by (1.2)2.5–4(7) cm wide, has a cuneate base and is frequently petiolulate. Lateral leaflets measure (2)2.5–7(12) cm long by (0.8)1.3–3.5(5.5) cm wide, have an asymmetric base that is slightly cuneate or somewhat rounded, and range from very shortly petiolulate to sessile. The midrib is slightly raised on the upper leaf surface and very prominent on the lower surface. Lateral nerves are arcuate, slender, and raised on both sides of the leaf. Leaf reticulation is lax, and is either almost invisible or sometimes conspicuous. Panicles grow both terminally and axillary; they are large, pyramidal, much branched, and bear many flowers. Terminal panicles are longer than the leaves, while axillary panicles are as long as the leaves or somewhat longer. Pedicels are 1–2.5 mm long. In male flowers, calyx segments are 0.5 mm long, ovate, obtuse, and glabrous; petals measure around 1.5 mm long, and are elliptic and obtuse; filaments measure around 1 mm long. In female flowers, the ovary is ovoid; styles are reflexed; the disk is cupuliform and 5-lobulate; staminodes are present. Drupes are pinkish-yellow to reddish-brown, shining, globose, glabrous, and (4)5(6) mm in diameter. Laboratory studies of bark extracts from this species have found properties that may be useful for treating convulsions and epilepsy, which supports its traditional use in ethnic medicine among some rural South African communities.
