Compilation
Parinari verdickii

The fruit is edible but not as tasty as that of P. curatellifolia.P. excelsa is one of the most widespread forest trees in Africa. Not surprisingly it shows a certain amount of variation which is partly correlated with geography. This, at least in part, accounts for its extensive synonomy. Plants from lowland rainforest in W. Africa tend to have silvery indumentum, a lax inflorescence and smaller flowers. Those from upland rainforest and fringing forest in E. and S. tropical Africa tend to have fulvous indumentum, a more congested inflorescence and larger flowers (not smaller as stated by Graham (in F.T.E.A., Rosaceae: 50, I960)). They belong to subsp. holstii of Graham. The overall pattern, however, is too diffuse to justify the formal recognition of subspecies. Several specimens from W. Africa typologically are subsp. holstii and several from E. Africa are inseparable from subsp. excelsa or are intermediate. This would not matter if the anomalous specimens were few in number and if the differences between the subspecies were greater. Not only are the subspecies weakly defined, but most of the specimens from the Congo basin are intermediate in character. Within our area, the range of P. excelsa lies entirely within that of P. curatellifolia, but the ecology of the two species is very different. P. excelsa is a species of various types of evergreen forest, in which it is often dominant or co-dominant. P. curatellifolia is a plant of woodland and tree savanna. In some situations, especially where P. curatellifolia has invaded secondary grassland on sites formerly occupied by forest, the two species may occur in close proximity. Notwithstanding this, and their great similarity in virtually all structural features other than habit and leaf shape, I have seen no intermediates other than the two specimens mentioned below. This suggests that the species are either reproductively isolated or that no niche is available for any hybrids they may produce. The intermediates are both from Mozambique, where P. excelsa is only known from a small area centred on the Gúruè Mts., and were collected at localities quite close to or a short distance S. of the area where P. excelsa occurs. It is possible that these intermediates are of hybrid origin, and that it is only at the southern limit of the range of P. excelsa that habitats suitable for colonization by the hybrids are found. Careful observations in the field are needed to test this hypothesis. The specimens are: Gomes e Sousa 865 (K) from the Ribáuè Mts. (14· 50’ S, 38· 20’ E) at 900 m., where the plant is said to be common in xerophilous forest on granite, and Gomes e Sousa 4256 (K) from Inhaminga.