Grewia tembensis Fresen.
G. membranacea A.Rich., G. parvifolia Hochst. ex A.Rich., G. reticulata Hochst. ex Mast.
Shrub 1-4 m in height. Stems with grey bark, branchlets with stellate hairs. Leaves 1-6 × 0.8-4 cm, very variable in size and shape, ovate-lanceolate to ovate or broadly elliptic; serrated margin, cordate or rounded base, glabrous on the upper side, minutely stellate-pilose on the underside. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, solitary. Flowers 1.5 cm in diameter, in umbellate cymes of 2-3 flowers. Peduncle 2-25 mm long. Pedicel 2-10 mm long. Sepals 6-7 × 2.5 mm, elliptical. Petals 5-7 mm, white, elliptical, with nectary at the base. Stamens numerous. Fruit in drupe, with 2-4 lobules, each 4 × 6 mm, subglobose, red at maturity, glabrous, shiny.
Flowering:
After rainfall, usually in summer in western Sahara and in autumn-winter towards the coast of the Red Sea.
Fruiting:
Late autumn and winter.
Habitat:
Open forests, savannahs, thickets, on very diverse terrains: volcanic, limestone, rocky, sandy. In dry and subdesert areas. Altitudinal range of 200-2,100(2,300) m above sea level.
Distribution:
Scattered through tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. In Africa it reaches to the N to the central Sahara (Algeria) and, in the sublittoral-littoral mountains of the Red Sea, to the Jebel Elba.
Observations:
Taxon closely related to G. stolzii Ulbr., and it could also be confused with albino forms (rare) of G. similis K.Schum.
Conservation status:
Fairly rare species, but widely distributed. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.