Allophylus rubifolius

Allophylus rubifolius (Hochst.) Engl.

Common names

Lowveld false rhus (English); kafupa kachimbwi, mututu (Kunda, Nyanja)

Kafupa kachimbwi means ‘the bones of the hyena’ and is a generic name given to several trees and shrubs with very hard wood (cf. Drypetes mossambicensis).

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A small, deciduous shrub or tree up to 5m tall. Bark pale with hairy branchlets. Leavescompound, trifoliate, with a petiole up to 5 cm long; leaflets 5-9 x 2.5-5 cm with the terminal leaflet up to twice the size of the lateral leaflets. Leaflets elliptic, usually broadest near the middle, papery but densely hairy on both surfaces. Leaflet margins are irregularly toothed. Flowers small white, greenish-white or yellow, produced in unbranched spikes up to 12 cm long (November-March). Fruit orange to red to black berries 4-6 mm in diameter (March-May).

Allophylus rubifolius can be confused with Allophylus africanus, which is occasionally found on termitaria or in miombo woodland. A. africanus has a branched inflorescence, and its leaves are not as densely hairy as those of A. rubifolius.

Range and habitat

Allophylus rubifolius is widespread in Africa from Ethiopia southwards. In the valley it is found in mopane woodland as well as escarpment miombo.