Shrub or small tree to 5 m high. Leaves stalkless or shortly stalked for up to 2 mm, obovate, up to 15 cm long and 6 cm wide, dark green above, pale green below; midrib rounded below; tip acute to obtuse; base narrowed. Involucres broadly bell-shaped, about 3 mm long, 7-8 mm wide, red. Fruits about 7 mm long and 8 mm wide.

S. compactum N.E. Br. var. rubrum S. Carter from Kenya is a shrub or small tree to 7 m high. Leaves stalkless, obovate, up to 18 cm long and 9 cm wide, purplish red and green above, purplish red below; midrib keeled below; tip acute; base narrowed. Involucres broadly bell-shaped, about 2.5 mm long, 7-8 mm wide, red. Fruits about 7.5 mm long and 7.5 mm wide.The latex of both these species is corrosive and highly toxic.

Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zaire.

Source: Forster, P. (2002). Euphorbiaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.