Maurocenia frangularia
Pers.
Hottentot's cherry, Bittersweet cherry
CelastraceaeFruit
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(c) photogenie, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) photogenie, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) photogenie, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) photogenie, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) murraychristian, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) murraychristian, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
The fruit are eaten raw.
Where to Find It
It is a subtropical or Mediterranean climate plant.
Africa, South Africa, Southern Africa,
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 small tree. It grows 3 m tall. The bark is grey and scaly with cracks along it. The new growth is red. The leaves are leathery and dark green above and more pale underneath. The flowers are small and yellow to white. Male and female flowers are usually on separate plants. The fruit are bright red berries that turn purple when ripe.
How to Grow
It can be grown by seeds or cuttings. It can be grown as a hedge.
Production
It grows slowly but lives a long time.
Notes
There is only one Maurocenia species.
Names & Synonyms
Cassine maurocenia L.Hartogia capensis L.f.Hartogia capensis var. lanceolata Sond.Hartogia capensis var. multiflora Sond.Hartogia capensis var. riparia Sond.Maurocenia capensis Sond.
References (7)
- Fox, F. W. & Young, M. E. N., 1982, Food from the Veld. Delta Books. p 152
- Jardin, C., 1970, List of Foods Used In Africa, FAO Nutrition Information Document Series No 2.p 125 (As Cassine maurocenia)
- Palmer & Pitman, 1972,
- Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 80
- Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 43
- Sp. pl. ed. 2, 1:385. 1762 (As Cassine maurocenia)
- 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
