Uvaria lucida

Benth.

Large cluster pear

AnnonaceaeFruitPotential hazards — see below

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(c) magdastlucia, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by magdastlucia

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(c) Troos van der Merwe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Troos van der Merwe

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit

Fruit - raw. Fleshy and sweet. The ripe fruits can also be used for making juices. The globose to cylindrical fruits are 9 - 30mm long. They are borne in clusters of 10 - 20 on the plant[610.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

A tropical and subtropical plant. It grows in the understorey in rainforest. It suits humid locations. In Malawi it grows between 600-1,800 m altitude.

Africa, East Africa, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe,

Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A climber. It grows 9 m high. The stems can be 8 cm across. The leaves are oval and wider at the tip. The leaves are 1-10 cm long. The hairs are star shaped. There are scales on the lower surface. The flowers are yellow green. There are 1-3 together. They are at the ends of the stems. The fruit have rusty hairs. They are 1-3 cm long. There are 3-12 seeds.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown from seeds.

Other Uses

The stems are used for withies and as fuel.

Production

In Tanzania fruit are available from April to June.

Notes

Variety virens in Zimbabwe.

Names & Synonyms

Dzala-bomu, Mchofu, Mganda simba, Mngweni-mulume, Mshofu, Msofu, Mudzala

Uvaria virens N. E. Br.

References (16)

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Msuya, T. S., et al, 2010, Availability, Preference and Consumption of Indigenous Foods in the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 49:3, 208-227 (subsp. virens)
Mutie, F. G., 2020, Conservation of Wild Food Plants and Their Potential for Combatting Food Insecurity in Kenya as Exemplified by the Drylands of Kitui County. Plants 2020, 9, 1017
Mutie, F. M., et al, 2023, Important Medicinal and Food Taxa (Orders and Families) in Kenya, Based on Three Quantitative Approaches. Plants 2023, 12, 1145
Pakia, M., 2000, Plant Ecology and Ethnobotany of two sacred forests (Kayas) at the Kenya Coast. M. Sc. Thesis.
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 56
Reis, S. V. and Lipp, F. L., 1982, New Plant Sources for Drugs and Foods from the New York Botanical Garden herbarium. Harvard. p 72
Ruffo, C. K., Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B., 2002, Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania. RELMA p 700
Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 18
Swaziland's Flora Database http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora (Subsp. virens)
van Wyk, B-E., 2011, The potential of South African plants in the development of new food and beverage products. South African Journal of Botany 77 (2011) 857–868
Welcome, A. K. & Van Wyk, B.-E., 2019, An inventory and analysis of the food plants of southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany 122 (2019) 136–179
White, F., Dowsett-Lemaire, F. and Chapman, J. D., 2001, Evergreen Forest Flora of Malawi. Kew. p 130