Albizia antunesiana

Albizia antunesiana Harms

Common names

Purple leaved Albizia (English); musase, msase, mukoso (Bemba); buwa, chigwenembe, chisale, mpepu, nakalima, mpefu, msase, mtanga (Nyanja)

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A small to medium-sized shrub or tree from 5-9m tall; on the valley floor, it often takes the form of a spindly shrub. Bark rough, sometimes smooth, reticulate; young branchlets hairless or nearly so. Leaves compound, paripinnate, with 1-4 pairs of pinnae, each bearing 4-8 pairs of leaflets. Leaflets distinctly discolorous, dark green to purple on the upper surface, light grey-green underneath; 2.3-5 x 1.1-2.5 cm, ovate, rhombic-ovate or elliptic-oblong, usually rounded at the leaf tip. Flowers white, scented, large fluffy heads, with multiple stamens up to 3 cm long (August-October). Fruit pods up to 23 x 4.5 cm, pale brown, flattened and dehiscent, ripening April to September the year after flowering.

Albizia antunesiana can be mistaken for Burkea africana or for Erythrophleum africanum. However, its distinctly discolorous leaflets are a useful way of distinguishing it from these species. In addition, A. antunesiana has a conspicuous gland on the leaf stalk.

Range and habitat

Albizia antunesiana occurs in Congo, Tanzania, Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. In the Luangwa valley it is found in hill miombo woodland in the foothills of the Muchinga Escarpment, as well as on the escarpment itself.