Uvaria kirkii Oliv. ex Hook.F.

A small shrub 0.9–2 m. tall or sometimes scrambling to about 8 m.; young branchlets with rather coarse ferruginous hairs but glabrous when older, ridged, purplish-grey, lenticellate.. Leaf-blades elliptic to oblong or obovate, 2.7–10.5(–12) cm. long, (2–)3–5(–7) cm. wide, obtuse, rounded or slightly emarginate at the apex, rounded or cordate at the base, coriaceous, mostly bluish-or greyish-green and glabrous above save for a few hairs on the impressed midrib, finely pubescent beneath with small stellate hairs and also some larger ferruginous stellate hairs when young, but almost or quiteglabrous when old; main nerves mostly impressed above and slightly-prominent beneath, but often flat and with the venation mostly obscure; petiole 2–5 mm. long, channelled, stellate-pubescent.. Flowers rather large, up to 7.5 cm. in diameter, terminal or leaf-opposed, solitary; pedicels 0–3 mm. long, tomentose with pale brown or ferruginous stellate hairs; bracteoles lanceolate, 5–7 mm. long, 2–4; mm. wide, tomentose.. Sepals ovate, 6–7 mm. long, 6.5 mm. wide, obtuse or acute, united at the base for up to a third of their length, entirely covering the petals in bud, tomentose on both surfaces with pale brown or ferruginous stellate hairs.. Petals cream or straw-coloured, tinged green at the base or all green, obovate-orbicular to narrowly elliptic-rhomboid, the inner sometimes rather narrower, (1.5–) 3–4.5 cm. long, 0.9–3.3 cm. wide, obtuse, rounded or slightly acute, thin, finely tomentose with stellate hairs outside, mostly glabrescent inside save at apex.. Stamens 1–2 mm. long, the prolongation of the connective thick, truncate or rounded.. Carpels 10–20, tomentose, 10–12-ovuled.. Fruiting pedicels 4–8 mm. long; monocarps 5–11, oblong-cylindrical, (1–)1.7–2.5 cm. long, 0.8–1.1 cm. wide, (3–)5–8-seeded, slightly constricted between the seeds, sometimes apiculate, densely tomentose with yellowish-fawn or grey stellate hairs, rugose or somewhat verrucose; stipes 4–8 mm. long.. Seeds shining brown, variously shaped, mostly slightly curved, with traces of 3 angles or compressed, 7–10 mm. long, 4–5 mm. wide, 2.5–3.5 mm. thick, shortly divided into connivent lobes at the hilar end.. Fig. 2/6, p. 11.

Usually found in coastal bushland, scrub thicket or grassland, Brachystegia woodland, Hyphaene palm savannah, though it is sometimes found in riverine habitats. It grows at elevations from sea level to 400 metres.

The ripe fruit are eaten raw. The seeds are discarded.

Plants can be grown from seeds.