Strychnos spinosa
Status: Not Evaluated
Type: Deciduous
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Gentianales
Family: Loganiaceae
Names: Kasongole or monkey orange
Appearance: A smooth, hard fruit that is large and green, ripens to yellow colour. Inside the fruit are tightly packed seeds, which may be toxic, surrounded by a fleshy, brown, edible covering.
General Information
Strychnos spinosa, the Natal orange, is a tree indigenous to Zambia and subtropical Africa. It produces sweet-sour, yellow fruits, containing numerous hard brown seeds. Greenish-white flowers grow in dense heads at the ends of branches (Sep-Feb/Spring - summer). The fruits tend to appear only after good rains.
Uses
The plant, taken alone or in conjunction with extracts of other plants, is used for snakebites, venereal disease, increasing the flow of breastmilk in lactating mothers, and enhancing physical strength.
Cultivation
Animals such as baboon, monkeys, bushpig, nyala and eland eat the fruit. The leaves are a popular food source for browsers such as duiker, kudu, impala, steenbok, nyala and elephant and thus these animals aid in its cultivation.
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