Zanha africana

Zanha golungensis, Velvet-fruited zanha is a species of fruit plants from Sapindaceae family which can be found in Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo where it is used as door frame and tool handles. It is also used for flooring and for creating toys, railway sleepers, turnery, furniture and ship designs.^[1]

Description

The species is a 12–17 metres (39–56 ft) tall shrub which have 3-6 (sometimes up to 8) pairs of leaflets which are ovate, elliptical and are 8–15 centimetres (3.1–5.9 in) by 4–8 centimetres (1.6–3.1 in). The petioles are 1–3 millimetres (0.039–0.118 in) long while the pedicels are around 2.5 millimetres (0.098 in) long. It have 4-6 stamens which are 10 millimetres (0.39 in) long with a cup-shaped disk that is hairy with a diameter of 2 millimetres (0.079 in). Ovary is absent in male species while the females bare flowers which turn into 3 centimetres (1.2 in) by 2 centimetres (0.79 in) fruits that are hairy and ellipsoid as well. Just like the fruit, the seed is also ellipsoid, but is 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in) by 1 centimetre (0.39 in) and is yellow (sometimes bright orange) in colour.^[1]

References