Common names
Snot apple (English); chinga, mukukuma (Bemba); mukole (Bemba/Kunda/Nyanja); ntowo, mkole (Nyanja).
General description and distinguishing characteristics
A shrub up to 1.5 m, or a small tree 2-10 m high. Bark greyish black with longitudinal fissures; young branches covered with red, velvety hairs, becoming hairless as they mature. Leaves palmately 3-5 lobed, up to 14 cm in diameter. Leaf texture is velvety, covered in dense, rough hairs above and softer hairs below. Petiole up to 13 cm long. Flowers solitary and showy, up to 5 cm long, yellow, ageing to orange –red with a maroon patch. Floral parts in 5’s. Produced in the rainy season, December to May. Fruit an almost spherical woody capsule about 3 cm in diameter, yellowish to brownish green, splitting late in the dry season into 5 parts (February to September).
Range and habitat
Azanza garckeana occurs throughout Tropical Africa from Sudan southwards to South Africa. In the valley it is found in riverine fringe woodland and thicket. It may also be found in mopane woodland on sand.