PYRENACANTHA KAURABASSANA

This member of the Icacinaceae family was first described by Henri Ernest Baillon in 1872. It is found in Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, growing in well-drained soil with some water and some sun. It will grow tubers up to five kilos, 30 centimetres in diameter, favoured by the naked mole rats, and the vines can grow from three to ten meter or more. It can be reproduced both by seeds, cuttings and stolones.

The genera name from Greek pyren; 'a stone fruit' and Greek akanthos; 'thorn' for the peglike protuberances from the inner surface of the fruit penetrating the cotyledons. The species name after Cabora Bassa in Mozambique. The male flower by Bart Wursten, Mozambiqueflora.com. Adult leaves on the one meter vine. Photo of the fruits by Rainer Martin, Mbuyu.