A.S. Hassan & M. Cheek (1999). Meliaceae in Fl. of Somalia 2:228-238
Plants deciduous shrubs, 1-2.5 m tall, sometimes with spiny ends developing from the main axes; spur shoots with numerous, very short internodes. Leaves polymorphic; petioles 1-5 mm long; shortly obovate to orbicular, (2-)5-12(-18) mm long, (2-)5-8(-12) mm wide, bases decurrent, margins revolute, tips rounded, truncate, retuse, or trilobed, lower and upper surfaces with white hairs about 0.5 mm long or glabrous, without domatia, with 1-3 pairs of veins visible below. Inflorescences usually of usually of solitary, rarely paired, flowers; peduncles indistinct. Flowers white, yellowish, or greenish white; petals linear-spathulate 15-20(-30) mm long, about 2.5 mm wide; staminal tubes curved through 45°, 12-24 mm long, bases 1.5-2 mm wide, flaring to 3-5(-7) mm wide above, longitudinally currugated, mostly glabrous but with a dense band of white hairs 1.5 mm wide on the inside near the base; staminal appendages half as long as and alternating with the anthers, tips of connectives 0.2-0.5 mm long; styles 1, exserted 7-13 mm, style head ellipsoid to ovoid, 3-5 mm long, 1.5-2 mm in diameter. Fruits globose to oblatee, 6-9 mm long, 9-12 mm wide; seeds 2-5, in life a bright red aril covering 90% of the black testa.
Turraea retusa grows in Acacia Commiphora bushland, usually on stabilized orange sand dines, rarely on limestone, at elevations of 130-975 m.
The leaves of Turraea retusa are unusally variable in shape, size, lobing, and indumentum. The species, when sterile, is most likely to be confused with Turraea parvifolia but that species has uniformly linear-bolong leaves.