Brazilian pepper is a dioecious (having male and female flowers) shrub or small tree, native to Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, which is now naturalised in other tropical areas including the southern United States and Africa, it grows to a height of 7-12 metres. The leaves are alternate, pinnately compound with 3-5 leaflets, ovately lanceolate-elliptical in shape, 10-22cm in length, leathery and mid-green in colour with yellowish veins. The 5-petaled flowers are small, white in colour with yellow stamens and grow in tightly clustered panicles. Flowers fade and ripen to berries which are spherical, 4-5mm in diameter and green ripening to pinky-red.
