 It is native to a swath of the east side of the continent from the equatorial highlands of Kenya at its northern limit southwards through isolated mountains in Tanzania to both sides of Lake Malawi, the Mashonaland Plateau and Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, and then along the lower slopes of the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa and in coastal forests from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town.The tree can reach 20 metres high in a forest, but in cultivation it is more likely to reach 10 metres, with a spreading canopy.The trunk is smooth and grey and the leaves are ovate up to 22 cm long and 10 cm wide.