S. Demissew (1999) Tiliaceae. Flora of Somalia 2: 2-21
Plants much branched shrubs, up to 3 m tall; branches pale to dark grey, glabrous, with no or few lenticels. Leaves petiolate; petioles 1-3 mm long, pubescent; blades obovate to elliptic, 1-2.5 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide, pale green on both sides, glabrous to pubescent with scatttered stellate hairs, bases cuneate to rounded, margins widely crenate to dentate, tips rounded. Inflorescences of solitary, leaf-opposed flowers; peduncles 1-10 mm long; pedicels 2-10 mm long. Sepalselliptic, 10-15 mm long; petals white, 7-10 mm long, linear-oblong to obovate, with a nectar-producing claw; ovaries 2-celld, with 2 ovules per cell; styles with broad, round stigma lobes. Fruits 2-4-lobed, each lobe 4-5 mm in diameter, glabrous to puberulous, with scattered long hairs; stones rugose.
Grewia erythrea grows in Acacia-Commiphora woodlands. on lava and limestone rocks at elevations of 50-1500 m in regions N1-N3, C1, 2, S1-S3 of the Flora of Somalia.