Region: tropical southern Africa, southern DR Congo, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, S. Africa.
Habitat: open woodland, thickets, grassland with scattered trees, near rivers, often on termite mounds, rocky outcrops, granitic soils; elevations from 420 to 1500 metres.
Use: edible fruit, raw or cooked, flesh is sweetly acid, mildly peppery, rich, red, acid jelly, stewed, fermented to make wine; fruit can be stored by drying it in the sun; wood for making walking sticks, clubs, tool handles, withies, grain stores; wood for fuel.
BotanyShrub or small tree; sometimes climbing or scrambling; from 1 to 8 to 12 metres tall.
Stem: wood is hard.
Fruits: bright scarlet-red; cylindrical; about 7cm long; hanging from the branches in bunches of 3 to 8; looking rather like sausages or fingers.