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Maytenus acuminata; photograph Abu Shawka, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Public domainAbu Shawka, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Maytenus acuminata (L.f.) Loes.

Celastraceae · Burundi, Cameroon +17

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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GBIF's records not checked. GBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked. So this page has no points on its map, no map marker, no habitat climate, no cultivation sheet and no species of nearest climate; the range is Kew's. Not a statement that none exist. How.

Maytenus acuminata, photograph Abu Shawka, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsMaytenus acuminata, photograph Abu Shawka, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsMaytenus acuminata, photograph Abu Shawka, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsMaytenus acuminata, photograph Abu Shawka, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsMaytenus acuminata, photograph Abu Shawka, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsMaytenus acuminata, photograph Abu Shawka, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›

Summary

Maytenus acuminata (also called the silky bark, umNama or Sybas) is a variable, medium-sized, evergreen tree indigenous to Africa, including South Africa. Here it is especially common on the verges of afro-montane forest. It produces small, white flowers and bright orange or red berries. In cultivation it is useful as a light shade tree, as an ornamental, or for attracting birds. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Maytenus acuminata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Maytenus

Maytenus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae. Members of the genus are distributed throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Micronesia, and Australasia, the Indian Ocean and Africa. They grow in a very wide variety of climates, from tropical to subpolar. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Maytenus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Not checked: GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the habitat climate is read only from them, so no sheet is derived.

Climate across the habitat

Not checked. GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the habitat climate is read only from them, so none is derived here. This is not a statement that no climate exists.

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP.
Records not checked: GBIF's records were not asked, as said under the name.
NativeBurundi, Cameroon, Gabon, Rwanda, Zaïre, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Bangladesh · introduced: Myanmar · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedGBIF's records not checked, as said under the name: so there are no points on the map, no map marker and no climate across the range; the range is Kew's. Not a statement that no record exists.

Photographs

Maytenus acuminata, photograph 1did not loadMaytenus acuminata, photograph 2did not loadMaytenus acuminata, photograph 3did not loadMaytenus acuminata, photograph 4did not loadMaytenus acuminata, photograph 5did not loadMaytenus acuminata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Abu Shawka, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (6).

Similar habitat climate Not checked: GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the nearest habitat climates are read from the climate they give.

Other Maytenus 17 in the reference

Maytenus abbottii Maytenus abbottii Celastraceae Photo: CC BY, Sunčana BradleyMaytenus boaria Maytenus boaria Mayten Photo: CC BY, nitsuga74Maytenus chubutensis Maytenus chubutensis Celastraceae Photo: CC BY, Ariadna TripaldiMaytenus disticha Maytenus disticha Celastraceae Photo: CC BY, Ezequiel RackerMaytenus ilicifolia Maytenus ilicifolia Celastraceae Photo: Public domain, author not stated Maytenus laevigata Celastraceae Maytenus laxiflora Maytenus laxiflora Celastraceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch UribeMaytenus magellanica Maytenus magellanica Magellan's mayten Photo: CC0, author not stated Maytenus meridensis Celastraceae Maytenus oleoides Maytenus oleoides Celastraceae Photo: Public domain, Abu Shawka Maytenus oleosa Celastraceae Maytenus orbicularis Celastraceae all 18 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Gymnosporia amaniensis; Ilex livida; Catha acuminata; Ilex lucida; Catha rupestris and 23 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

Under another author Gymnosporia acuminata (L.f.) Szyszył. is an older name of this species, not Gymnosporia acuminata, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Celastraceae
Described by
(L.f.) Loes.
Native to
Burundi, Cameroon, Gabon +16
Records
not checked · GBIF's records were not asked: the page has no GBIF key

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Maytenus acuminata (L.f.) Loes. (plant_name_id 2360109), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
Habitat climate climate not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked, and the habitat climate is read only from them
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 161800-1, POWO 161800-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence.

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