Description - from Wikipedia

Dais cotinifolia, known as the pompom tree, is a small Southern African tree belonging to the Thymelaeaceae family. It occurs along the east coast northwards from the Eastern Cape, inland along the Drakensberg escarpment through KwaZulu-Natal and the Transvaal, with an isolated population in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. It flowers profusely during the summer months and produces a multitude of pink, sweet-scented, globular flowerheads about 8 cm across.

Description
Dias cotinifolia is a small tree of up to 6m in height, with a rounded, leafy crown. In cultivation, its height and span only reach 2-3m in the UK and can reach up to 4 metres in Australia.
It has small ovate-oblong shaped and lustrous leaves up to 5cm long. It is evergreen in mild climates and deciduous in cool climates. In spring, or in the summer, it bears scented star-shaped rose-lilac, or pink coloured flowers, in round clusters 8 cm across. The bark is tough and fibrous and the branchlets are difficult to break.

Uses
Used as an ornamental in gardens, can be grown as a small tree or multi-stemmed shrub.
It prefers full sun and in fertile and well drained soils.
Its bark yields fibres that are strong enough to be used as thread.

See also
List of Southern African indigenous trees


== References ==