266-299 - SABONET

Viscum tuberculatum A.Rich.
Small, densely branched parasitic shrub; leaves obovate, leathery; flowers in
sessile clusters, male and female on same plant; berries orange, sessile, ovoid, 5–
6 mm long, densely tuberculate when young; in dry evergreen forest on many
Ampelocissus africana (Lour.) Merr.
Climber or liane with densely hairy branches when young, hairless with
age, striate, with branched tendrils; leaves simple, ovate-cordate, entire, or
deeply 3- to 5-lobed with toothed margins, hairy or not; flowers borne in
dense clusters off the lower part of the tendrils; fruit roundish, ca 10 mm
diameter; in woodland or forest margins. Zimbabwe northwards throughout
tropical Africa.
Malawi. Nyika National Park, Kasewerera, 2001, without collecting details
(Patel & Oveton 2002: 30).
Cayratia gracilis (Guill. & Perr.) Suesseng.
Cissus gracilis Guill. & Perr.
Climbing or trailing herb 1–7 m long, all parts more or less hairless, tendrils
present, leaf-opposed; leaves digitate with (3–)5(–9) leaflets, often
pedate, leaflets narrowly ovate to ovate or elliptic, coarsely serrate, petiole
40–60 mm long; inflorescence axillary, in tight clusters, peduncle 20–70 mm
long, flowers whitish, yellow to pale green; fruit roundish, black, 6.5–10 mm
diameter; in tall wooded grassland, forest margins, swampy areas, and riverine
forest; 300–1,770 m. South Africa northwards to Senegal, Mali, and Ethiopia.
Source. Flora zambesiaca 2(2): 491 (1966); F.T.E.A. Vitaceae: 138 (1993).
Malawi. Nyika National Park, without locality or collecting details (Mill 1979).
Cissus rubiginosa (Welw. ex Baker) Planch.
Woody or herbaceous climber, sometimes shrubby, 0.5–1.8 m tall, from a
thick woody rootstock, all parts set with thick reddish-brown hairs, tendrils
to 300 mm long, bifid, hairy; leaves simple, round to broadly elliptic
or ovate, base deeply cordate, apex acute to apiculate, margins dentate,
hairy throughout, but less so above, petiole to 80 mm long; inflorescence
leaf-opposed, peduncle 26–65 mm long, fruit glabrous; in rocky places in
Brachystegia woodland and riverine forest; 450–1,200 m. N. Mozambique,
Malawi, and Zambia northwards to Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda,
and Tanzania.
Source. Flora zambesiaca 2(2): 455 (1966); F.T.E.A. Vitaceae: 26 (1993).
Malawi. Nyika National Park, without locality or collecting details (Patel 1999).
Cyphostemma princeae (Gilg & Brandt) Descoings ex Wild
& R.B.Drumm.
Cyphostemma kerkvoordei (Dewit) Descoings ex Wild & R.B.Drumm.
Erect herb 0.8–1.2 m tall, arising from a woody rootstock, stems hairy
with scattered short red or blackish gland-tipped hairs, tendrils absent;
leaves digitate with 3–9 leaflets, petioles 0–70 mm long, leaflets sessile,
linear-elliptic to obovate-oblanceolate, irregularly serrate, white-woolly
below, sparsely hairy to hairless above; inflorescence terminal or axillary,
flowers yellow to green, red-tipped; fruit red, turning black, 8–9 mm long,
hairless; in Brachystegia woodland on rocky slopes; 1,500–2,250 m. Zimbabwe,
Zambia, Malawi, D.R.C., and Tanzania.
Source. Flora zambesiaca 2(2): 471–472 (1966); F.T.E.A. Vitaceae: 79 (1993).
Malawi. Nyika National Park, without locality or collecting details (Mill 1979).
Cyphostemma vandenbrandeanum (Dewit) Descoings
Prostrate, but more usually a climbing vine, climbing to the forest canopy,
stems hairy, bearing reddish tendrils; leaves 3- to 5-foliate, leaflets elliptic,
Cissus grisea (Baker) Planch.
C. grisea is a species of low altitudes (200–950 m) in riverine bush and
rocky hills. Its maximum altitude is lower than the lowest point on Nyika
and it is most likely that this record is a misidentification for the similar C.
rubiginosa (see above).
Malawi. Nyika National Park, without locality or collecting details (Patel 1999).
VITACEAE
Excluded species
hosts, broadly along the Rift Valleys from Ethiopia to South Africa and Angola.
Source. Wiens & Polhill (1998: 290); Polhill (2001: 595, fig. 211L, M).
Malawi. Nyika National Park, vicinity of Juniper Forest, 2,190 m, 1972,
Wiens 4611 (K, UT).
ovate or obovate, apex acute to rounded, more or less hairless above, whitish
to reddish velvety below, margins crenate-dentate; inflorescence compact,
much-branched, peduncle 20–125 mm long, flowers brown or yellow,
red-tipped; fruit red, densely pubescent; in woodland, montane scrub,
secondary or montane forest, and on rocky slopes; 1,750–2,450 m. Malawi,
Zambia, D.R.C., and Tanzania.
Source. Flora zambesiaca 2(2): 484 (1966); F.T.E.A. Vitaceae: 102 (1993);
White et al. (2001: 599).
Malawi. Nyika National Park, Chelinda Bridge, 2000, Salubeni &
Mwanyambo 6769 (MAL); road from Zovochipolo to Chisanga Falls, 2000,
Burrows & Burrows 6770 (PRE).
Zambia. Nyika Plateau, without locality, 1959, Richards 10412 (K, SRGH);
Manyenjere, Kasoma & Chowo Forests, without collecting details (Dowsett-
Lemaire 1985: 320).
Cyphostemma wittei (Staner) Wild & R.B.Drumm.
Cyphostemma hermannioides Wild & R.B.Drumm.
Prostrate or scrambling herb 1–2 m long from a thick taproot (red inside),
stems hairy with gland-tipped bristles, tendrils absent; leaves simple to 3foliate,
side leaflets much smaller than the terminal leaflet, leaflets oblong,
ovate to oblong-elliptic, sometimes 3-lobed, base tapering to cordate, more
or less hairless above, sparsely hairy below; inflorescence bright red, peduncle
25–110 mm long, flowers yellow to crimson; fruit red, turning blackish,
hairless; in miombo woodland or wooded grassland; 1,050–1,950 m.
Malawi, Zambia, D.R.C., and Tanzania.
Source. Flora zambesiaca 2(2): 464 (1966); F.T.E.A. Vitaceae: 61 (1993);
Lebrun & Stork 3: 334 (1995).
Malawi. Nyika National Park, without locality or collecting details (Patel 1999).
Rhoicissus tridentata (L. f.) Wild & R.B.Drumm. subsp.
cuneifolia (Eckl. & Zeyh.) N.R.Urton
Rhoicissus erythrodes (Fresen.) Planch.
wild grape; Chichewa: mpeza; Yao: mpelesya; Tumbuka: mpesya
Perennial shrub to 2 m or liane in forest, branchlets with reddish hairs,
bearing simple tendrils; leaves 3-foliate, leaflets narrowly to broadly obovate,
lateral leaflets often asymmetric, apex toothed, sometimes shallowly so,
base tapering, more or less hairless above, densely velvety below; inflorescence
leaf-opposed, compact, peduncle 2–30 mm long, flowers green, red
to purplish; fruit roundish, black when ripe, 7–11 mm diameter, fleshy; in
wooded grassland, on termite mounds, rocky hillsides in woodland, and in
montane forest; 700–2,250 m. South Africa northwards to Nigeria, Ethiopia,
and Saudi Arabia. A very variable species throughout its range, divided
into two subspecies in South Africa and probably worthy of division
into subspecific taxa within tropical Africa. The fruit is edible, juicy, but
somewhat astringent.
Source. Brummitt (1973); White et al. (2001: 601).
Malawi. Nyika National Park, W. foot of Nganda, 1972, Brummitt, Munthali
& Synge 72 (K, MAL, SRGH); Domwe, 2000, Mwanyambo 566 (MAL);
between Zambian Rest House and Thazima, 2000, Burrows & Maroyi 6834
(MAL, PRE).
Zambia. Nyika Plateau, Manyenjere, Kasoma, and Chowo Forests, without
collecting details (Dowsett-Lemaire 1985: 320).
Cissus rupestris
An unauthored name listed in Patel & Overton (2002). No such name is
recorded in Flora zambesiaca (1966), F.T.E.A. (1993), or in Lebrun & Stork
(1995).
Malawi. Nyika National Park, Chipome Valley, 2001, without collecting
details (Patel & Overton 2002: 32).
Plants of the Nyika Plateau
285
VITACEAE