Vitex doniana

Vitex doniana Sweet

Common names

Prune fingerleaf (English); mfishameno, mufufu, mufutu (Bemba); finfya, mufifwa, mufifya (Kunda/Nyanja); kasokowe, mpindimbi, mpinji, mpyubya, msimpsha, ntongoli, mfifya, mfimfya, mfutu, msimsha (Nyanja); mkunungu (Tumbuka).

General description and distinguishing characteristics

Vitex doniana is a tree up to 15 m in height, and generally well known for its edible fruits. Bark grey or grey-brown, finely fissured. Leaves 5-foliate, the terminal three leaflets largest, and the lateral leaflets smaller, all with petiolules. Leaflets leathery, obovate, obovate-elliptic or oblong, up to 16 x 6 cm, dark green above, paler grey-green below, glabrous or with sparse hairs. Margin entire. Petiole up to 15 cm long. Flowers violet and white, and produced in few flowered cymes up to 7 x 6 cm. Corolla 8 mm long (produced August-January). Fruit an edible, ovoid purple-black drupe, up to 3 x 2 cm, in a saucer-shaped calyx (April-August).

Range and habitat

Vitex doniana occurs throughout tropical Africa and is also found in Madagascar. In the Luangwa valley, it is associated with valley riverine fringe woodland and thicket.