Nauclea latifolia

Nauclea latifolia Sm. (Rubiaceae), now widely accepted as Sarcocephalus latifolius (Sm.) E.A.Bruce, is a sprawling shrub or small tree 3–9 m tall of West and Central African savannas, gallery forests, and riverbanks. Stems often scramble and form thickets; bark is grey-brown and shallowly fissured. Leaves are opposite, broadly ovate to elliptic, 10–25 cm long, leathery and glossy, with prominent pinnate venation and interpetiolar stipules. Flowers are arranged in dense globose heads 2.5–5 cm in diameter on long peduncles, with numerous small white to pinkish tubular blossoms and exserted styles giving the head its pincushion appearance. The fruit is a fleshy, syncarpous compound head 5–10 cm across, pink to deep red when ripe, with edible sweetish pulp containing many small embedded seeds; it is widely eaten and traded in rural markets.