Multidentia crassa (Hiern) Bridson
var. crassa

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Photo: Nicholas Wightman
Mpulungu Harbour, Mpulungu, Mpulungu Distr., Northern Prov.

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Synonyms:	Canthium crassum Hiern Canthium dictyophlebum S. Moore Canthium opimum S. Moore Craterispermum orientale K. Schum. Plectronia opima (S. Moore) Mildbr.
Common names:
Frequency:
Status:	Native
Description:	Shrub or small tree, bark almost black or rough grey, peeling to expose a reddish undersurface; branches stout with often powdery white-grey or straw-coloured corky bark; copious sap present, sometimes apparently milky. Leaves mostly restricted to apices of branches; oblong-elliptic to oblong or sometimes round, 3–27.5 cm long, rather fleshy or more or less leathery, often drying yellow-green and mostly markedly paler and blue-green beneath, hairless except for hair-tuft domatia beneath; petioles 3–25 mm long; stipules with broad basal part 3.5–5 mm long and subulate apex 1.5–7.5 mm long. Flowers 5-merous, borne in axillary many-flowered inflorescences, mostly pubescent and sometimes densely woolly; peduncle 10–50 mm long; pedicels 1–3 mm long; bracts 3–5 mm long, linear. Corolla greenish-yellow, fleshy, thick, wrinkled when dry; tube 2.5–4.5 mm long, pilose at throat and with a ring of deflexed hairs one third of the way from the top; lobes narrowly triangular, 3 mm long. Fruit depressed globose, 35–40 mm wide, covered in lenticels, green mottled brown, yellow or dull red or brown spotted white, fleshy and edible.
Notes:
Derivation of specific name:
Habitat:	In Brachystegia woodland, or less often in open bushland with scattered trees or at forest edges, often on rocky outcrops.
Altitude range:	600 - 1675 m
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution:	Angola, Shaba Province DRC, Burundi, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi,Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Mozambique distribution:	N,T
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Literature:	Bridson, D.M. (1998). Rubiaceae, Part 2 Flora Zambesiaca 5(2) Pages 312 - 314. (Includes a picture). Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 245. (Includes a picture). Burrows, J.E., Burrows, S.M., Lötter, M.C. & Schmidt, E. (2018). Trees and Shrubs Mozambique Publishing Print Matters (Pty), Cape Town. Page 941. (Includes a picture). Coates Palgrave, K. (revised and updated by Meg Coates Palgrave) (2002). Trees of Southern Africa 3rd edition. Struik, South Africa Page 1103. Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 72. Phiri, P.S.M. (2005). A Checklist of Zambian Vascular Plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 32 Page 90.

Other sources of information about Multidentia crassa var. crassa:

Our websites:

Flora of Malawi: Multidentia crassa var. crassa
Flora of Zambia: Multidentia crassa var. crassa
Flora of Zimbabwe: Multidentia crassa var. crassa

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Multidentia crassa
African Plant Database: Multidentia crassa
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Multidentia crassa
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Multidentia crassa
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Multidentia crassa
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Multidentia crassa
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Multidentia crassa
JSTOR Plant Science: Multidentia crassa
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Multidentia crassa
Plants of the World Online: Multidentia crassa
Tropicos: Multidentia crassa
Wikipedia: Multidentia crassa