Harpephyllum

Tree. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, clustered at ends of branches. Flowers unisexual in axillary panicles. Male flowers: petals 4(-5), imbricate; stamens 7-10. Female flowers: perianth similar to male; staminodes conspicuous; ovary with 4-5 sessile stigmas. Fruit fleshy with a bony 4-5-locular endocarp, with only 2 loculi fertile. Harpephyllum caffrum, the Wild plum, is recorded in FZ 2(2): 557 as a cultivated plant for S Zimbabwe. The specimen cited, which was sterile, is Munch 379, collected in Masvingo ("cultivated in the Glenlivet Garden") on 29 June 1952. The species is quite commonly planted as a street tree in Zimbabwe, but there is no evidence that it has ever become naturalised here. Also, although this South African species extends northwards into Limpopo Province and hence occurs not very far from our southern border, there are no records of it occurring as a native tree in Zimbabwe.

Harpephyllum is a genus of trees in the family Anacardiaceae (the cashew and mango family). The sole species is Harpephyllum caffrum, a dioecious evergreen species from South Africa and Mozambique that is also cultivated. The fruit is edible.