5304.000 Scolopia Schreb.

Shrubs or trees, usually spiny. Leaves glabrous, coriaceous. Flowers (in ours) bisexual in axillary racemes. Sepals c.5. Petals c.5, as many as the sepals. Stamens numerous, not collected into bundles. Ovary 1-locular. Fruit a ± fleshy berry with several seeds.

Derivation of name: from skolopes (Gr), thorn or pointed stick, referring to the spines present in many of the species.

Worldwide: 37 species in the Old World tropics

Malawi: 3 taxa.