Empleurum unicapsulare
English: False Buchu; River buchu.
Afrikaans: Bergboegoe; Bildeboegoe.
Name: Empleurum is derived from the Greek en and pleuron, pleura.
Genus: 2 species.
Region: South Africa.
Habitat: damp stream banks, at high altitudes.
Use: ornamental; leaves as flavourant in brandy and tea, more acrid taste than Buchu.
Botany
Shrub or small tree; to 4 m high; completely glabrous; evergreen.
Stem: single; slender; upright; rod-like; brownish red; branches hanging, spreading; branchlets numerous, straight, slender, pale greenish yellow.
Leaves: alternate; undivided; gland-dotted; linear; dark green; 20 to 60 mm, by 3 mm; finely serrated edges; richly endowed with oil glands, with resin-like scent when crushed.
Inflorescence: solitary or in pairs in the leaf axils.
Flowers: small; greenish; monoecious, unisexual or polygamous; calyx 4-lobed; petals absent; stamens 4, fertile, staminodes absent; disc absent; ovary is superior, with 2 ovules; flowering from April to September.
Pollination: by bees, butterflies.
Fruit: single-chambered or unicarpellate seed capsule, topped by a sword-shaped horn; glabrous; shiny; gland-dotted; 17 to 20 mm long; one seed.
Seed: black; ± 10 by 3 mm; ejected from the ripe, hard capsule by the ballistic dispersal or catapult mechanism.