Prunus africana

Prunus africana, or red stinkwood, is an evergreen tree native to the montane regions of sub-Saharan Africa and the islands of Madagascar, São Tomé, Bioko, and Grande Comore at about 900–3,400 m (3,000–10,000 ft) above sea level. The mature tree is 10–25 m (33–82 ft), open-branched, and often pendulous in forest, shorter and with a round crown of 10–20 m (30–70 ft) diameter in grassland. It requires a moist climate, 900–3,400 mm (35–130 in) annual rainfall, and is moderately frost-tolerant.

The bark is black to brown, corrugated or fissured, and scaly, fissuring in a characteristic rectangular pattern. The leaves are alternate, simple, 8–20 cm (3.1–7.9 in) long, elliptical, bluntly or acutely pointed, glabrous, and dark green above, pale green below, with mildly serrated margins. A central vein is depressed on top, prominent on the bottom. The 2 cm (0.8 in) petiole is pink or red. The flowers are androgynous, 10-20 stamens, insect-pollinated, 3–8 cm (1–3 in), greenish white or buff, and are distributed in 70 mm (2.8 in) axillary racemes. The plant flowers October through May. The fruit is red to brown, 7–13 mm (0.3–0.5 in), wider than long, two-lobed, with a seed in each lobe. It grows in bunches ripening September through November, several months after pollination.