Diospyros quiloensis

Diospyros quiloensis (Hiern) F.White

Common names

Crocodile bark jackal berry (English); kafupakachimbwe, kashinshe (Kunda); kasinga (Nyanja)

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A semi-deciduous small tree or shrub, up to 8m high but usually much smaller in the valley where it often appears as a multi-stemmed shrub. Bark very distinctive, dark grey and deeply fissured both vertically and transversely. Leaves simple, alternate, arranged in spirals or on short spur shoots. Leaves typically 4-5 x 1.5 cm, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, glossy dark green above, paler below, apex broadly tapering, leaf base narrowly tapering. Leaf margins are conspicuously wavy. Petiole slender, up to 5 mm long. Flowers sweetly scented, creamy white. Male flowers up to 8 mm long in 2-12-flowered lax cymes; female flowers slightly larger, in groups of 2-3 in the leaf axils. Floral parts in 3s or 4s. Flowers produced in October-December. Fruit like an acorn, up to 2 x 0.9 cm, yellow, with a cup-like calyx up to 0.5 cm long. Fruits ripen March to July.

Range and habitat

Diospyros quiloensis is found in the river valleys of Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, usually as a constituent of thicket. In the Luangwa valley, it is very common in Mixed alluvial thicket and Combretum thicket as well as Mopane woodland on sand.