Home | > | List of families | > | Capparaceae | > | Maerua | > | prittwitzii |
Synonyms: |
Maerua rhodesiana Wild |
Common names: | Kakonka (Tonga: Zimbabwe) Woolly-fruit bush-cherry (English) |
Frequency: | |
Status: | Native |
Description: |
Suffrutex, shrub or small tree up to c. 6 m tall. Bark dark grey. Leaves mostly trifoliolate with upper leaves simple; leaflets broadly elliptic to ovate, up to 12 × 6 cm, terminal leaflet usually twice as long as lateral leaflets, greyish-green with sunken veins above, veins prominent below; apex with a hair-like tip; margin entire; petiole up to 4 cm long. Flowers in short dense terminal racemes; sepals green, hairy on the outside; petals present, white; stamens c. 30, c. 2 cm long. Fruit slightly ovoid, c. 2.2 cm in diameter, strongly knobbly and finely woolly, pale brown. |
Notes: | Although consistently described as a shrub or small tree in literature many records known from Zimbabwe show this plant as a low growing suffrutex, often less than 50 cm tall with mostly simple leaves. |
Derivation of specific name: | prittwitzii: named after Georg von Prittwitz und Gaffron (1861-1936), who studied geography, geology, botany, and mineralogy and participated in exploration of German East Africa in 1893-1894. |
Habitat: | In hot and dry woodland or in miombo woodland but only on termite mounds. |
Altitude range: (metres) | Up to 1200 m |
Flowering time: | Oct - Dec |
Worldwide distribution: | Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. |
Zimbabwe distribution: | N,W,C |
Growth form(s): | Tree, shrub over 2 m. |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Images last updated: | Thursday 22 October 2015 |
Literature: |
Coates Palgrave, K. (revised and updated by Meg Coates Palgrave) (2002). Trees of Southern Africa 3rd edition. Struik, South Africa Page 235. Drummond, R.B. (1975). A list of trees, shrubs and woody climbers indigenous or naturalised in Rhodesia. Kirkia 10(1) Page 238. Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 32. Phiri, P.S.M. (2005). A Checklist of Zambian Vascular Plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 32 Page 38. Wild, H. (1960). Capparaceae Flora Zambesiaca 1(1) Pages 220 - 221. (Includes a picture). |
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