Rothmannia globosa is a small but highly decorative South African tree of the Rubiaceae

Rubiaceae

The Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, variously called the coffee family, madder family, or bedstraw family. The group contains many commonly known plants, including the economically important coffee , quinine , and gambier , and the horticulturally valuable madder , west indian jasmine ,...

 family. It occurs in evergreen forest and along forest margins in the Eastern Cape

Eastern Cape

The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...

 and north to Limpopo Province and Swaziland

Swaziland

Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...

.

Bark is greyish-brown with rectangular markings. Leaves are glossy, often with yellowish to maroon veins on the underside with acarodomatia

Acarodomatia

Acarodomatia , are tussocks of hairs or nonglandular trichomes located in pits situated in major leaf vein axes of many plant species and frequently occupied and/or caused by predatory and mycophagous mites.-Acarodomatia and predatory mites:Research has shown that the presence of acardomatia in...

in the axils - acarodomatia are common in this family and are a useful diagnostic character. The specific name refers to the spherical fruits of about 25mm diameter.