Euclea is a group of flowering plants, belonging to family Ebenaceae, the ebony family, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1774. It includes evergreen trees and shrubs, native to Africa, the Comoro Islands, and Arabia. Several species are used for timber, producing a hard, dark heartwood timber similar to ebony.

Euclea undulata is one of the most common small trees across the vast subtropical and central interior regions of southern Africa. It is a most variable species due to its adaptability to different climatic and habitat conditions. Euclea undulata is a very sturdy, evergreen, dense and twiggy shrub to small tree reaching an approximate size of 7 m in height and very often with an equal width. The bushy and rounded appearance of the trees is due to the numerous branches that carry the closely packed leaves on stems that often reach ground level, giving an appearance of large dark green mounds or domes in the landscape. Several specimens commonly grow closely together, and in such cases they can form impenetrable thickets, as is often the case in their southern to coastal distribution range. It is indigenous to South Africa and almost all parts of Euclea undulata are used by people or animals in one way or the other. It yields excellent firewood that produces long lasting coals. The leaves are useful as fodder for stock, antelope and small herbivorous mammals while the edible fruits are eaten by birds, antelope and humans although not very tasty. The hard brown heartwood is heavy and close-grained which make it durable and strong and a suitable species for making fencing posts. The bark contains suitable quantities of tannin and is used medicinally to ease headaches, while the roots provide a remedy for toothache and heart-related ailments. Alternatively the roots, when used as a powder, can be a drastic purgative. In the Western Cape leaf preparations are taken orally to treat diarrhoea and disorders of the stomach, and as a gargle to relieve throat ailments such as tonsillitis.