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Euclea pseudebenus (Cape Ebony) – A slow growing and long-lived evergreen shrub or low branched small tree to 8 to 25 feet tall with rough grey back slender drooping branches so densely covered with the spirally arranged narrow lanceolate leaves that they drape to the ground, hiding the interior of the plant. Flowering occurs from late winter to late spring with small bell-shaped greenish yellow flowers that are barely noticeable but with a nice fragrance. It is a dioecious plant with the male flowers arranged in clusters of 3–7 and female flowers that are usually singular and followed by half inch long oblong fruit that turn from green to black upon ripening.
Plant in full sun in a decently well drained soil and irrigate infrequently to occasionally in drier months. While able to handle drought, it has been noted to thrive and grow faster with irrigation than it does in the wild. Protect from frost initially but then is will likely be hardy to at least short duration temperature down to 25° F. This is an attractively graceful and very drought tolerant long lived large shrub.
Cape Ebony is found naturally growing in desert and semi-desert areas of Angola, Namibia and the Cape Province region of South Africa, often near watercourses and in its natural range the black and fine grained heartwood was used for wood working. Euclea pseudebenus is in the Ebenaceae, the ebony family. The genus name comes from the Greek words 'eu', meaning "good" and 'kleos' meaning "report" which combine to mean "to be of good report" or "to be famous" and is thought to refer to the good quality ebony-type wood of some species, particularly Euclea pseudebenus. The specific epithet means "false ebony" in reference to the resemblance of this species to the wood of true ebony, Diospyros ebenus, from India, which is the tree that produces the black timber used for carpentry. Our plants were grown from seed collected in 2019 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum.
This information about Euclea pseudebenus displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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