A.S. Hassan & M. Cheek (1999). Meliaceae in Fl. of Somalia 2:228-238
Plants shrubs or small trees, 1.5-4 m tall, subspiny, bark grey or black with waxy bloom. Leaves in dense, sprially arranged clsuters on short spru shoots or alternate with long internodes on extension shoots; petioles 1-2 mm long; blades narrowly blong, elliptic, or oblanceolate (0.7-)1.7-2.6 cm long, 0.25-0.4 cm wide, glabrous, with cuneate bases and rounded tips. Inflorescences of axillary, solitary flowers on pedicels 3-7 mm long. Flowers cream or greenish white, becoming yellow with age; petals narrowly oblanceolate, 0.8-0.9 mm long, 0.15 mm wide, outer surfaces puberulous; staminal tubes narrowly cylindrical, abruptly flare at the mouth, as long as the petals; staminal appendages filiform, 1.5-2 times as long as the anthers; anthers with spherical apical appendages; styles 1, exserted by 6-7 mm, style head ovoid, about 2.5 mm long and 1.5 mm wide. Capsules not seen; seeds red.
Turraea parvifolia grows in Acacia-Commiphora bushlands, mostly on limestone at elevations of 600-1250 m in regions N1-N3 of the Flora of Somalia.