''Uapaca kirkiana'', the sugar plum or mahobohobo, is a species of dioecious

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

in the family

Phyllanthaceae Phyllanthaceae is a family of flowering plants in the eudicot order Malpighiales. It is most closely related to the family Picrodendraceae.Kenneth J. Wurdack and Charles C. Davis. 2009. "Malpighiales phylogenetics: Gaining ground on one of the m ...

. It is native to the southern Afrotropics, where it occurs in well-watered

miombo The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

woodlands. Within range it is one of the most popular wild fruits. It is rarely cultivated but trees are left when land is being cleared. Still a traditional food plant in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, this little-known fruit has the potential to improve nutrition, boost

food security Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World ...

, foster rural development and support sustainable land care. In

Shona Shona often refers to: * Shona people, a Southern African people * Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today Shona may also refer to: * ''Shona'' (album), 1994 album by New Zealand singer Shona Laing * Shona (given name) * S ...

, the fruit are referred to as ''mazhanje'', and in Chichewa ''masuku''.

Range

It occurs in the

woodlands of

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, the DRCongo,

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

, southern Burundi,

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

, central and northern

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

, and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Growth

It is a dioecious species – the clusters of staminate (or male) and single pistillate (or female) flowers are borne on separate trees. It grows to a height of 5–13 meters, and 15–25 cm in trunk diameter. The dark green, glossy leaves are 12–36 cm long and 8–24 cm wide. It is not prone to attack by pests. It grows in areas with over 600mm/year of rain, and prefers well drained sand or gravelly soils low in organic matter; its presence is indicative of poor agricultural soils.

Fruit

Female trees fruit after about 9–10 years from seed. The fruit is roughly spherical drupe about 2–4 cm in diameter, green in colour ripening to yellow or brown. When ripe, the 1.5mm hard shell encloses the yellow flesh which has an appealing sweet taste that has been likened to pear or plum. Fruits usually contain 3 or 4 seeds, though sometimes 5. Fruits weigh between 5 and 50 grams each, with from 0.2 to 30 grams of pulp. The fruit is usually eaten by wild animals such as monkeys.

Propagation

It is usually propagated by seed, which is recalcitrant and germinates readily, reaching 90% after 6 weeks for fresh seed. The tree can also be propagated vegetatively - a success rate of 80% has been achieved with wedge or splice grafts. Air layering is also possible, though these trees have not fared well without a taproot. The tree naturally propagates via underground suckers and forms stands.

Cultivars

Little work has been done developing cultivars, though some named varieties do exist. Since 1996, work on propagating of superior seedlings has been carried out in Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe by the Southern Africa Regional Programme.

Name

The species is named in honor of Sir John Kirk, explorer and naturalist (1832-1922).Orwa C, A Mutua, Kindt R , Jamnadass R, S Anthony. 2009 Agroforestree Database:a tree reference and selection guide version 4.0 (http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sites/treedbs/treedatabases.asp)

References

Phyllanthaceae Fruits originating in Africa {{Fruit-stub