5538.000 Combretum Loefl.

Trees, shrubs, or woody climbers. Leaves opposite, whorled, subopposite or rarely alternate, usually entire; petiole sometimes persisting and forming a ± hooked spine. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, 4-5-merous. Calyx 4-5 (rarely more). Petals usually 4-5, variously coloured. Stamens twice as many as petals, in 1 or 2 series. Ovary inferior. Fruit 4-5-winged. A generally recognisable genus but Schrebera trichoclada in leaf looks very similar. The flowers of many species resemble those of willows (Salix species), hence their common name of Bushwillow.

Worldwide: 250 species in the tropics, excluding Australia

Zimbabwe: 5 cultivated taxa.