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.