Flacourtia indica

Flacourtia indica (Burm.f.) Merr.

Common names

Governor’s plum (English); mukulumbisya, mupulambako, mupulukuswa, mutumbwisya, mutumbusya, mutumbwisyi, mutimbwiizya (Bemba); ntumbuzya, ntunduvya (Kunda); makokolono, mkondokondo, mtumbuzya, ntuza, matyokolo, mtawa, mtema, mvunganjati, ndawa, songoma, mkandambazo, mtudzu, ntudza (Nyanja); mukondyondyo (Tumbuka).

This is quite a variable species, perhaps accounting for the multitude of common names applied to it.

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall, Flacourtia indica is most easily recognised by its edible, plum-like fruit, spiny branches and toothed leaves. Bark pale grey, smooth but becoming dark grey and rough, flaking to reveal yellowish or orange brown underbark. Young branches silvery. Spines irregularly dispersed in the axils of the branches (up to 12 cm long). Leaves simple, alternate, in spirals on the branches, very variable in size and shape and texture. Leaf may be 2.5-12 x 1.3-7 cm, papery or leathery, nearly round, ovate, elliptic, obovate or ovate-elliptic. Leaf apex with coarse teeth. Petiole up to 1.3 cm long. Flowers dioecious or occasionally bisexual, small, 5 mm in diameter, greenish yellow in short spikes or solitary in the axils of the leaves (September-November). Fruit plum-like, up to 2.5 cm in diameter, fleshy, reddish or reddish black when ripe (January-June). Edible.

Flacourtia indica can be mistaken for Oncoba spinosa when not in flower or fruit. The easiest way to tell them apart is that Oncoba spinosa has regular, small teeth around the entire leaf margin, whereas Flacourtia has coarse, irregular teeth in the upper half of the leaf.

Range and habitat

Flacourtia indica is widely distributed in central and eastern Africa as well as in South Africa, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka and south east Asia. In the valley it is found in riverine woodland and thicket, mopane woodland and Combretum-Terminalia woodland. It is often associated with sandy soils.