M. Thulin (1999) Rhamnaceae in Flora of Somalia 2: 150-156.
Plants shrubs or trees, sometimes dioecious (in which case plants unisexual; branches sparsely pubescent when young, sometimes spine-tipped. Leaves alternate, leathery, petioles 1-11 mm long, glabrous to pubescent; blades bolanceolate to elliptic of narrowly oblanceolate, 1-5.5 cm long, 0.4-3 cm wide, major veins glabrous to pubescent, bases attenuate to cuneate, margins serrulate to entire, tips acute to rounded. Inflorescences of solitary flowers or clusers of 2-4 flowers; flowers yellowish-green, 4-merous, pedicellate; pedicels 1-5 mm long; sepals 1.5-2 mm long; petals 0.5-1 mm long, soon falling; styles about 1 mm long. Drupes subglobose, 4-7 mm in diameter, first red, then blackish.
Rhmanus staddo grows in seasonally dry, evergreen bushland and open Juniperus forest, at 1100-2175 m. It is known from regions N1-3 (Somaliland and Puntland) of the Flora of Somalia and from Eritrea and Ethiopia south to Zimbabwe.