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scientific_name:
Schinus molle
taxon_meaning_id:
481
species description:
Common name: Pepper tree (English); Peperboom (Afrikaans); Pfefferbaum (German)
Origin: South America
Description
Large, evergreen tree with slender, drooping branches and leaves. Leaves and fruit smell peppery when crushed. Bark rough, cracked. Leaves drooping, once-pinnate, with slightly winged midrib; leaflets sub-opposite, narrowly lanceolate and slightly curved, with veins prominent below. Flowers tiny, cream, carried in drooping, open sprays. Fruit small, round berries, light green becoming pink-red with papery skin and a black stone when mature.
Discussion
Commonly planted in gardens and around homesteads for shade. Especially invasive along watercourses.
Bird reported from Namibia but no unequivocal evidence:
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