Zanha africana (Radlk.) Exell

Species

Angiosperms > Sapindales > Sapindaceae > Zanha

Characteristics

Small tree 3.5–12 m. tall with rather nodular gnarled grey branches; bark red, brittle, reticulate, flaking off in patches, with orange layer beneath.. Leaves up to ± 23 cm. long; petiole 1–5 cm. long, ferruginous pubescent; leaf rhachis 4–35 cm. long, similarly pubescent; leaflets in 3–8 pairs, often not exactly opposite, ovate, elliptic or almost round, the lower pairs considerably smaller than the upper; upper leaflets 8–15 cm. long, 4–8 cm. wide, obtuse at the apex, truncate to cordate at the base, crenate towards the apex or rarely entire, glabrous to sparsely or densely ferruginous pubescent; lateral nerves in up to 14 pairs, the venation prominently reticulate beneath; petiolules 1–3 mm. long.. Male inflorescences precocious, ± sessile clusters, 1.5 cm. wide, forming masses ± 5 cm. wide, peduncles sometimes 0.5–?3 cm. long; female inflorescences tawny felted, with peduncle up to 2 cm. long, lengthening in fruit.. Flowers greenish, sweet-scented; sepals 5, 4 mm. long, united for 1 mm. at base; disk cup-shaped, 0.7 mm. high.. Stamens and staminodes 5; filaments of stamens 9 mm. long; anthers 1.2 mm. long.. Fruit bright orange, ellipsoid, up to 2.6 cm. long, 1.3–1.8 cm. wide, velvety; sepals and style base persistent; stalks 0.3–1.9 cm. long.. Fig. 3/1–4.
More
Leaves up to 15 cm. long; rhachis fulvous-tomentose; petiole up to 6 cm. long, fulvous-tomentose; leaflets 3–5-jugate, subsessile; leaflet-lamina up to 8 × 4 cm., elliptic to oblong-elliptic, chartaceous to subcoriaceous, tomentose when young, later usually pubescent on both surfaces but rarely glabrescent except on some of the nerves below, apex blunt to rounded, margin crenate to crenate-serrate or sometimes almost entire, base rounded to subcordate; lateral nerves 5–8 pairs.
A medium sized tree. It grows up to 10 m high. The bark is dark brown, scaly and flaky. The leaves have 3-5 pairs of leaflets. They are oval and 4-8 cm long by 2-4 cm wide. They are leathery with net veins. The flowers are small. They are sweetly scented. They are in heads about 2 cm across. The fruit are oval and 3 cm long by 2 cm wide. They are velvety and fleshy. They are bright orange when mature.
Inflorescence a congested fulvous-tomentose subglobose paniculate thyrse c. 2 cm. in diam.; peduncle up to 12–20 mm. long in male plants, fulvous-tomentose.
Fruit orange or yellow, up to 3 × 2 cm., obovoid-ellipsoid to subglobose, tomentose, often beaked by the persistent style.
Tree up to 10 m. tall or shrub; bark grey, scaling in large flakes; branchlets tomentellous when young.
Sepals 4–6, 2–2·5 × 1·5 mm., ovate-oblong, tomentose outside, glabrous within, connate at the base.
Flowers greenish, sweet-scented; pedicels 2–2·5(4) mm. long, tomentose.
Stamens 4–7; filaments 4 mm. long, glabrous; anthers 0·5–0·8 mm. long.
Ovary pubescent to tomentellous; style 1·5–2 mm. long.
Disk 1·3 mm. in diam., annular.
Seed 1·5 × 1 cm., ellipsoid.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality dioecy
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 8.0 - 10.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

A tropical plant. It occurs at medium to low altitudes. It grows in the lowlands. It grows in open woodland and among rocks. It grows between 300-1,800 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places. It grows in Miombo woodland.
More
Deciduous woodland, miombo, often on rocky hills, at elevations from 300-1,800 metres. Woodland, often on granite ridges or kopjes, occasionally in riverine forest.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

The fruit have been eaten after boiling. CAUTION: They contains saponins and have been reported to be poisonous. They cause diarrhoea if eaten in large quantities.
Uses animal food bee plant environmental use food fuel gene source invertebrate food material medicinal poison vertebrate poison wood
Edible fruits leaves seeds
Therapeutic use Fatality (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from fresh seeds.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Zanha africana world distribution map, present in Angola, Burundi, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, United Republic of, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:785637-1
WFO ID wfo-0000429335
COL ID 5CW39
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Zanha africana Dialiopsis africana