Deinbollia oblongifolia
Deinbollia oblongifolia is a shrub or small tree in the family Sapindaceae. It is commonly known as the dune soap-berry and is found in coastal vegetation from the Eastern Cape of South Africa, through KwaZulu-Natal to southern Mozambique and Eswatini. It is named after Peter Vogelius Deinboll, a Danish botanist and plant collector.
Description
These plants can grow up to tall. The stem often branches low down and the bark is grey brown. The leaves are compound, up to long and clustered at the ends of the branches. The flowers are white, or cream and produced on branched flowering heads at the ends of the branches. The fruit are rounded; green and velvety when young to yellow and smooth when ripe. The dune soap-berry may be confused with a young forest mahogany because of the similar shaped compound leaves, however the dune soap-berry has paler green slightly matt leaves compared to the forest mahogany, which has a darker green leaf that is slightly more glossy. The leaves of the dune soap-berry are also hard textured and not held flat as in Trichilia dregeana.
Uses
The fruit is eaten by people. The leaves can be eaten as spinach, and the seeds can be lathered in water and used as soap. The roots are used in traditional Zulu medicine for stomach complaints. These shrubs are also valuable garden plants, especially in wildlife gardens.
Ecological significance
The flowers attract hordes of insects including; moths, butterflies, bees, wasps, ants and beetles. The leaves are fed on by the larvae of several butterflies, including; gold-banded forester, forest queen and the purple-brown hairstreak. Various Deudorix butterfly species' larvae also feed on these trees, including the larvae of the black-and-orange playboy and the apricot playboy which both eat the fruits of Deinbollia oblongifolia. The larvae of the African peach moth also feed on the leaves, and the fruit are also eaten by birds and monkeys. Charaxes butterflies feed on the fermenting fruits, and the green-veined charaxes, pearl charaxes, satyr charaxes, forest-king charaxes, white-barred charaxes and the Natal tree nymph have all been observed feeding on the sap of Deinbollia oblongifolia. Furthermore, these trees are browsed by game animals.