Breonadia salicina

Breonadia salicina (Vahl) Hepper & Wood (Adina microcephala (Delile) Hiern)

Common names

Mungwina (Bemba); tutangala-tuze (Bemba, Kunda, Nyanja); nwenya, muwina, mwenya, mwenya-mwina (Nyanja); mulosyi, mumwina (Tumbuka).

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A large, evergreen tree up to 20 m or more in height. Bark dark grey to dark brown, rough with longitudinal ridges. Leaves simple, in whorls of four, crowded at the ends of the branches. Leaves are narrowly elliptic or lanceolate, up to 24 x 4 cm, leathery, dark glossy green above, paler green below, largely hairless. Leaf veins are yellowish and conspicuous. Margins are entire. Flowers small, inconspicuous, mauve, sweetly scented and produced in axillary, compact heads up to 4 cm in diameter. Peduncles up to 6 cm long with a pair of boat-shaped bracts (December-March). Fruits small, brown, two-lobed capsules, 2-3 mm long, densely clustered into spherical heads (June-July).

Rauvolfia caffra can be mistaken for Breonadia salicina, and vice versa. They both have long, narrow, clustered leaves, and they grow in similar habitats. However, Rauvolfia exudes a milky latex when you break off a leaf.

Range and habitat

Breonadia salicina occurs in Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. In the valley it is found in riverine fringe woodland and thicket on the levees and sand deposits of the valley’s rivers.