Brexia

Brexia is a genus of flowering plants assigned to the Celastraceae. It includes several species of dense evergreen shrubs or small trees of usually around 5  m high, with alternately set, simple, leathery leaves with a short leaf stem and lanceolate to inverted egg-shaped leaf blades. The pentamerous flowers occur in cymes. The petals are greenish white, the stamens are alternating with wide, incised staminodes. The superior ovary develops in a long-ribbed fruit. Brexia naturally grows on the coast of East Africa, on Madagascar, the Comoros and Seychelles. Opinions differ about the number of species in Brexia. Sometimes the genus is regarded monotypic, B. madagascariensis being a species with a large variability, but other authors distinguish as many as twelve species. Common names for B. madagascariensis include jobiapototra, tsimiranjana, tsivavena, vahilava, voalava, voankatanana, voantalanina, voatalanina and votalanina (all Malagasy), and mfukufuku (Swahili), mfurugudu (Shambala, Tanzania) and bwa kato (Seychelles).

== Description ==