Africa Wild Tree & Shrub Book - Order Gentianales

[Toko]

640.1 Forest Num-num, Common Num-num Carissa bispinosa (Bosnoemnoem)
Order: Gentianales. Family: Apocynaceae

© nan
Bontebok National Park

Description
This species is only occasionally tree-like (up to 5 m) and is more often a dense multi-stemmed or rambling shrub. It is evergreen and twiggy, the branches exhibiting a repeated forked pattern. The bark is wrinkled, dark brown or grey in older trees, but younger stems, branchlets and twigs are green and fleshy. The plants contain a milky sap and the branches are often hairy. Spines (45 mm) are once- or twice-forked, rarely single, and are sometimes even absent.
Simple thick leaves (10 - 70 mm x 8 - 35 mm) are crowded towards the end of the twigs. Leaves are opposite, shortly petiolate, ovate, broadly ovate or ovate-elliptic, with a smooth margin, glossy dark green above, paler below, with short, thorn-like tips (heart-shaped tapering to a sharp point).
Flowers (Aug - Jan) are sweet-scented and small (petals: 5 mm; tube 9 mm), white or tinged pink, with a long, slender corolla tube, sweetly scented and clustered at the tips of twigs. Fruit are small, ovoid, edible, red berries. The whole fruit, including the seed, is edible and although the skin is slightly milky, it has a delicious flavour. It is not uncommon to find fruit and flowers on the same plant.

Distribution
Carissa bispinosa is found from the southwestern parts of the Western Cape along the coastal areas right through the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal into Gauteng and the northern provinces. It also occurs in the eastern Free State, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique extending westwards to Botswana and Namibia and sporadically further north as far as Kenya. The leaves and thorns in particular, show marked variation throughout the distribution range.
Provincial distribution in South Africa: Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Western Cape.

Habitat
In wooded areas: dry woodland, coastal scrub and forest margins.

Links: Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park. Ernst Schmidt, Mervyn Lotter, Warren McCleland; Sappi Tree Spotting: Highlands Highveld, Drakensberg Eastern Cape Mountain. Rina Grant, Val Thomas

[Lisbeth]

53. Ouheip (Afr.). Adenium oleifolium
Order: Gentianales. Family: Apocynaceae


(KTP, Nov. 2018)

Found on stony ridges, limestone outcrops or loose sandy or sometimes rocky soils in southeastern Botswana and South Africa (western parts of Northwest and Limpopo and northern parts of the Northern Cape Province), at altitudes of 700- 1 200 m, once recorded from the Warmbad District in Namibia. It is a shrub, 120-400 mm tall, with a large tuberous, mostly buried stem from which the aerial branches arise. The branches are densely pubescent when young, becoming glabrous with age. The olive-green leaves are distinctly long and narrow, 50-110 Í 4-13 mm, and are crowded at the tips of the branches. The terminal inflorescence carries a few pinkish salmon or pale pink to red flowers that appear with the leaves.


© nan
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Links:
http://pza.sanbi.org/adenium

[Klipspringer]

684. Matumi Breonadia salicina
Order: Gentianales. Family: Rubiaceae

© Richprins
Kruger National Park, Pretoriuskop

Breonadia salicina.jpg (115.48 KiB) Viewed 3808 times

© Pumbaa
Kruger National Park, Matambeni hide

Description
Breonadia salicina is a small to large evergreen tree, 10 to 40 m tall. When the tree is mature the base becomes thick, with grey to grey-brown, longitudinal, rough bark ridges throughout the trunk. Lateral branches are arranged in groups. Leaves usually occur in whorls of 4 and crowded at the ends of the branches, are simple, lanceolate (narrow oval shape, tapering to a point at each end) to narrow elliptic 80–300 × 20–90 mm, tough leathery, glossy green, hairless, pale below, with midrib and lateral veins pale yellowish green.
The flowers occur in 15–25 mm diameter, spherical, compact heads, made up of numerous, minute, pale mauve flowers. The head of flowers is on a slender stalk, 20–95 mm long, and has 2 leaf-like bracts below the head of flowers.
Each flower has a tubular, five-lobed corolla, widening to a funnel-shaped throat, flared at the mouth. Stamens are attached to the throat. Flowering is in summer, from November to March, and the flowers are sweetly scented.
Fruit is a ball of small, brown, 2-lobed capsules, 2–3 mm long, densely packed into rounded heads and having a rough, bristly appearance, in winter, June to July. Seeds are 2–3 mm long.

Distribution
Breonadia salicina is widely distributed in the northeast of South Africa, from KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, mostly in the Lebombo Mountains, to the neighboring countries, eSwatini, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and in parts of Malawi and extends further north in Africa to Ethiopia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and in Madagascar.

Habitat
The Matumi grows in rocky areas in and along rivers. It is common in riverine fringe forest, along or in water of permanent streams and rivers, occurring at low altitude, in tropical and subtropical regions.
Soil type: Clay, Loam

This species is a protected tree in South Africa and harvesting requires a permit.

Links:
https://treesa.org/breonadia-salicina/

Common names: matumi, African teak, wild-oleander, Transvaal teak (Eng.); mingerhout, watermatoemie, waterboekenhout, basterkiaat (Afr.); mohlomê (Northern Sotho); mutulume (Tshivenda); umfula, umfomfo (isiZulu)

[Gisalina56]

Hello,

Who know the name of the tree in the picture, found in Central Africa (DRCONGO) into the Equatorial forest? Its fruit is big and very heavy almost 15 kg (33,07 lbs).

In DRCongo, in the province of Nord-Ubangi they call it "LENGA" and they make traditionnal recipient with it.

Thank you in advance for the answer

Gisalina 56

From DRC, fruit called in local language "LENGA"

From DRCongo the tree of the fruit called in local language "LENGA"

[Klipspringer]

Hello,

Who know the name of the tree in the picture, found in Central Africa (DRCONGO) into the Equatorial forest? Its fruit is big and very heavy almost 15 kg (33,07 lbs).

In DRCongo, in the province of Nord-Ubangi they call it "LENGA" and they make traditionnal recipient with it.

Thank you in advance for the answer

Gisalina 5620210324_221908.jpgIMG-20210319-WA0018.jpg

Gisalina

This is a widely cultivated tree, but not indigenous. Crescentia cujete, commonly known as the calabash tree.

Microsoft Word - Useful Plants of Bas-Congo 1 - 11.doc.pdf

(169.16 KiB) Downloaded 216 times