Region: tropical Africa, Ethiopia, eastern DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique.
Habitat: savannah, thickets, woodlands of various types, forests.
Content: essential oil, α-pinene, benzene, δ-3-carene.
Use: fruit, raw for food; medicine.
BotanyShrub or tree; 12 metres tall.
Fruit: reddish, globose drupe; 3 to 7mm in diameter; in clusters.
TaxonomySome botanists see Searsia as a genus distinct from Rhus, whilst others place it as a subgenus of Rhus. There seems to be a growing acceptance that Searsia is distinct and it is treated thus here.