The large flowering plant genus Grewia is today placed by most authors in the mallow family Malvaceae. Formerly, Grewia was placed in either the family Tiliaceae or the Sparrmanniaceae. The genus was named by Carl Linnaeus, in honour of the botanist Nehemiah Grew (1641-1712) from England. Grew was one of the leading plant anatomists and microscope researchers of his time, and his study of pollen laid the groundwork for modern-day palynology.

Grewia villosa commonly known as Round Leaf Grewia, Mallow-leaved Cross berry or Mallow raisin in English and Malvarosyntjie in Afrikaans is a South African indigenous species. Grewia villosa is a shrub, often scrambling and hardly exceeding 4 m in height. Leaves are fairly large, serrated and heart-shaped. It grows naturally, mainly in dry habitats. It is common in most of the semi-arid parts of Eastern Africa but may now be rare in parts of its natural distribution. Its ripe copper-coloured edible fruits are eaten in East Africa. The fruit of the Grewia villosa are eaten both while immature and green and also once they had ripened and hardened to a dark, reddish-brown. Medicinally, the bark is stripped off and crushed in water or chewed to a pulp which is used to wash the body as well as to clean the hair and disinfect the scalp.