Combretum elaeagnoides

Combretum elaeagnoides Klotzsch

Common names

Grey jesse bushwillow (English); kalamafupa, kalamalama, mufuka (Bemba, Kunda); lusaka (Nyanja); likokwe, lukokwa (Tumbuka)

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A small deciduous tree or shrub up to 6.5 m tall. Bark grey-brown to silver-grey, smooth; branchlets with silvery dots, hairless. Leaves simple, opposite, sub-opposite or in threes, 3.5-13 x 1-6 cm, brittle textured, narrowly elliptic to oblong-elliptic with dense, overlapping silvery scales on both leaf surfaces. Petiole 3-10 mm long. Flowers greenish yellow and produced in spikes, 2.5 cm long, in the axils of the leaves (September-January). Fruit 2-3.5 x 1-3.5 cm in diameter, four-winged, creamy green becoming brown when ripe (January-October).

Range and habitat

Combretum elaeagnoides is found in the Caprivi Strip, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, more or less following the course of the Zambezi valley and its major tributaries. In the Luangwa valley it is found in thicket or mopane woodland on sand.