Cordia mukuensis

Cordia mukuensis Taton

Common names

Blue-bark Cordia (English).

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A shrub or small tree up to 5 m tall with a fluted or square section trunk. Bark distinctive grey-green to grey-blue, peeling like a guava resulting in a blotchy appearance. Leaves simple, alternate, often crowded at the ends of the branches. Leaves 5-11 x 2-4.5 cm, lanceolate, obovate, elliptic-oblong or elliptic, hairless at maturity. Margins entire. Petiole 0.5-1.5 cm long. Flowers small, white to cream coloured, 4-5.5 mm long; produced in terminal heads up to 4.5 cm long and 5 cm wide (September-December). Fruit ovoid with a sharply pointed apex, 1.5 x 1 cm, and with a persistent, toothed calyx forming a cup around the lower third of the fruit (December-February).

Range and habitat

Cordia mukuensis occurs throughout the Flora Zambesiaca region and also in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the Luangwa valley it is associated with riverine thicket on the levees and sand deposits of the major rivers.