Croton megalobotrys

Croton megalobotrys Müll. Arg.

Common names

Fever berry Croton (English); chimonomono (Bemba/Nyanja); mtutu, munanga (Kunda/Nyanja); munganga (Tumbuku)

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A small tree or shrub up to 14 m tall with a rounded crown. Bark grey, with longitudinal lenticels; smooth, beoming fissured in older trees. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-19 x 2-13 cm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, thinly textured and with dense stellate hairs on both surfaces; 3-7 nerved from the base of the leaf, margin coarsely toothed. Petiole 2-7 cm long. Flowers small, creamy yellow; male flowers and female flowers produced in terminal racemes 4.5-17 cm long, and female flowers also produced in racemes 2-3 cm long (September-November). Fruit a round, three-lobed, capsule, 2-3.5 cm in diameter when dry and up to 4 cm in diameter when green; turning orange to golden brown as the fruit ripens (December-January).

Range and habitat

Croton megalobotrys is found throughout the Zambezian region, and extends into Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania. In the Luangwa valley, it is an occasional constituent of mixed alluvial thicket.