Artabotrys brachypetalus

Artabotrys brachypetalus Benth.

Common names

Purple hook berry (English); mukukuma (Bemba); mulungulwa (Kunda); Nyapepo (Tumbuka).

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A shrub, small tree or climber 2-10 m high, most often a spreading climber. Bark grey, rough; branches rusty brown, hairy when young, becoming hairless as they mature. Leaves simple, alternate, 4.5-11 x 2-7 cm, obovate to elliptic-oblong. Leaf texture is leathery, the upper surface of the leaf bluish to bright green, glossy to sparsely hairy; matt hairless to densely hairy below. Leaf margins are entire. Petiole short, 3-5 mm long, often densely hairy. Flowers up to 2 cm in diameter, solitary, on C-shaped peduncles like a shepherd’s crook. Petals yellowish, with hairy sepals, cup-shaped with a central mass of stamens (September-December). Fruit produced in clusters on a fruit stalk up to 4 cm long. Carpels narrowly ovoid to cylindrical, 1-8 x 0.8-1.5 cm, turning blackish purple as they ripen (December-March).

Artabotrys brachypetalus may be confused with A. monteiroae, which occurs at higher altitudes in the Muchinga Escarpment, and also has distinctive C-shaped peduncles. However, apart from the differences in habitat, Artabotrys monteiroae has very short flower stalks 1-3 mm long, and its fruits ripen to red rather than black.

Range and habitat

Artabotrys brachypetalus occurs in Tanzania, DR Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. In the valley it is found in riverine fringe woodland and thicket. It may also be found in mopane woodland on sand.