buffalo nut Santalaceae Pyrularia pubera

Leaf:Alternate, simple, deciduous, thin, ovate or narrowly elliptical, with long drawn-out tip, 2 to 9 inches long, entire to wavy margins, green above and below, usually pubescent on the underside, borne on short petioles.
Flower:Species is dioecious; females yellow-green on 1 inch spikes, each with 10 or fewer flowers that lack petals; males yellow-green on 2 inch spikes; appearing late spring at the branch tips.
Fruit:Pear-shaped 1 inch drupe, yellow-green (yellow-red at maturity), with thin flesh splitting to reveal a large round oily "nut"; ripening in early autumn. TOXIC oil occurs throughout the plant but is concentrated in the nut.
Twig:Moderate to slender, brown; buds large, green (eventually red-brown at the tips), oval and pointed; leaf scars round and raised with 1-3 bundle scars; pith large and white.
Bark:Gray-brown and warty.
Form:A sparsely branched shrub reaching up to 15 feet but generally under 10 feet tall.
leaf flower fruit twig bark form map
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