About Searsia dentata (Thunb.) F.A.Barkley
Searsia dentata, commonly called nana-berry in English and nanabessie in Afrikaans, is a medium-sized deciduous tree. It grows to approximately 5 meters tall, with a 4-meter spread, and tends to scramble over and through neighboring trees. It grows naturally across almost all of South Africa, excluding the Western and Northern Cape Provinces. Its natural habitat ranges from sea level up to the highlands of the Drakensberg. This species is frost-hardy and requires full sun when planted. Its leaves are strongly aromatic, and are usually noticeably toothed, which is the origin of the specific epithet dentata, though leaves may sometimes be only lightly toothed. The tree produces dense clusters of small creamy-white flowers. After flowering, it develops small, flattened drupes that measure 5 to 6 millimeters across. These drupes turn red or orange when ripe, and brown when dry. Ripe fruits are eaten by birds, and the foliage serves as a food source for the larvae of the pepper tree moth, Bombycomorpha bifascia.
