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
Cyphostemma vandenbrandeanum Del. Sandie Burrows 600 mm 286 Plants of the Nyika Plateau Boophane disticha Del. Sandie Burrows 20 mm 20 mm Cyrtanthus breviflorus Del. Sandie Burrows 20 mm Rhoicissus tridentata subsp. cuneifolia Del. Sandie Burrows
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