Scientific name: Friesodielsa obovata,
English name: Northern dwaba berry
Local name: Muchingachinga
General information
Friesodielsia obovata is a shrub or small tree, sometimes adopting a climbing or scrambling habit, usually growing from 1 -7.5 metres tall with some specimens to 12 metres. The tree spreads through tropical southern Africa - southern DR Congo, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Muchingachinga belongs to the custard-apple family. It mainly grows along riverine woodlands. It grows open woodland, thickets, grassland with scattered trees and near rivers, often on termite mounds, rocky outcrops and granitic soils; at elevations from 420 - 1,500 metres.
Human benefits
The flesh around the seeds has a sweetly acid and mildly peppery flavour and they can be cooked to make a rich, red, acid jelly, stewed, or fermented to make wine. The tree has good and strong wood which is used making walking sticks, grain stores, tool handles and withies. The wood is also a good source of fuel. The roots are boiled and used to treat stomach-ache, infertility in woman and as an antidote for snakebite.
Propagation
Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe. The seed germinates better if it is scarified by abrading the seed coat prior to sowing.