Azanza (Thespesia garckeana) is a drought-tolerant tree from southern and eastern Africa, often found in wooded grassland and on termite mounds. It is grown for its edible fruit and fodder leaves and needs a warm, sunny, well-drained site.
Family
Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply but infrequently, letting the soil dry out between waterings once established.
Soil
Well-drained sandy or loamy soil; tolerates poor soil.
Temperature
18–35 °C; protect below 5 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Nigeria to Kenya and Limpopo
Climate
seasonally dry tropical
About
Thespesia garckeana (also known by its synonym Azanza garckeana) is a tree in the family Malvaceae, found throughout the warmer parts of Southern Africa in wooded grasslands, open woodland and thickets. It grows naturally over a range of altitudes from 1,000 to 2,000 m above sea level, from semi-arid areas to areas of higher rainfall. T. garckeana is often found on or near termite mounds in old fields.
Common names: African chewing gum, goron tula, snot apple, tree hibiscus, mutohwe (Shona), nkole (Sri Lanka), uXakuxaku (isiNdebele) and morojwa (Setswana).
Uses
The whole fruit except the seeds is chewed like gum, producing a sweet glutinous slime. The fruit is also used as a syrup and soup.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Thespesia garckeana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.