Diospyros kirkii

Diospyros kirkii Hiern

Common names

Large-leaved jackal berry (English); mukolofuma (Bemba); muchenja (Bemba, Kunda); chisolwa, muchenja-mango, nkulo (Kunda); mchenja-kulo, mkulo (Nyanja); mchenji (Tumbuka).

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A small tree up to 6 m tall with a rounded crown. Bark dark grey, rough with longitudinal fissures. Young branchlets covered with pinkish velvety hairs. Leaves simple, alternate, leathery, up to 15 x 8.5 cm; leaves broadly elliptic to almost circular, mid-green with yellowish midrib and 6-8 lateral veins. Undersurface hairy. Petiole stout, 5-12 mm long. Flowers: male and female flowers are similar with calyx 4-7 mm long, and 4 or 5 sepals and petals covered with pink velvety hairs. Corolla up to 1 cm long. Male flowers produced in 3- or more flowered axillary cymes about 2 cm long and female flowers produced singly or in pairs in leaf axils (September-October). Fruit a golden yellow to orange, edible berry, up to 3.5 cm in diameter with 4-5 persistent calyx lobes up to 1.5 cm long. Fruits contain 3-4 glossy brown seeds, and are produced in April to September.

Range and habitat

Diospyros kirkii occurs north of the Limpopo in dry woodland on sandy soils and rocky outcrops and ridges. In the Luangwa Valley, it is characteristic of Diospyros-Combretum-Terminalia wooded grassland, the dominant vegetation type on the upper valley floor and the foothills of the Muchinga mountains.