Ximenia caffra

Ximenia caffra Sond.

Common names

Sour plum (English); mulebe (Bemba/Kunda/Nyanja)

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A small shrub or small tree up to 6 m tall, Ximenia caffra is characterised by its spines, and yellow, edible ‘plums’. Bark grey to dark grey, smoothish becoming rough on older specimens. Branchlets spiny, hairy to glabrous (see below). Leaves simple, alternate, up to 8 x 4 cm, elliptic or oblong-elliptic. Leaf is leathery, with the mid-rib impressed above, prominent below. Leaves densely hairy (var. caffra) or glabrous (var. natalensis), mid to grey-green. Margin is entire. Petiole 5-6 mm long. Flowers small, greenish-white or pink, fragrant, solitary or produced in fasciles in the axils of the leaves (October-November). Fruit when ripe a bright red plum-like drupe, 2.5 x 1.8 cm, with a single seed. The fruits are edible with a tart, sour flavour (typically produced December-January).

There are two varieties of Ximenia caffra in the Luangwa valley:

X. caffra var. caffra, which has densely hairy branches and leaves, and;

X. caffra var. natalensis, which has glabrous (hairless) branches and leaves.

Range and habitat

Ximenia caffra is found in dry woodland and wooded grassland throughout Eastern Africa and south-central Africa. In the Luangwa valley, it is mainly associated with hill Miombo woodland, Combretum-Terminalia-Diospyros wooded grassland and Mopane woodland.