Cissus cornifolia

Cissus cornifolia (Baker) Planch.

Common names

Ivy grape (English); chituzi, mutunila (Kunda); chinto-mbolozi, kana-mwalisisi, mgongo, mpeska, mbulu-mbunji, mpelesya, mwana-wamfepo (Nyanja).

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A deciduous shrub or semi-climber up to 5 m high Cissus cornifolia is most easily distinguished by its dark red/brown swollen leaf nodes which give the branches a jointed appearance like a grapevine. Bark of branchlets is sometimes velvety red, sometime glabrous. Tendrils are sometimes absent. Leaves simple, alternate, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, light to mid-green with toothed margins. Leaves appear after the flowers and are typically 7-8 x 5 cm. Petiole is 2-7mm long. Leaf stipules 2-5 x 2-3mm, persistent. Flowers appear in cymes opposite the new leaves on a peduncle 4-9cm long. Individual flowers are small, yellowish-green and inconspicuous, 2mm in diameter (September-October). Fruit a purple-black, ovoid berry, 10 x 8mm, containing a single smooth seed with a dorsal crest (October-December).

Range and habitat

Cissus cornifolia is found throughout tropical Africa at altitudes up to 1800m. In the Zambezian region it occurs in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. In the Luangwa Valley it is associated with riverine fringe woodland and thicket, Combretum thicket and mopane woodland.