Wild custard Apple - KUMUFWORA. ( annona senegalensis )

Derivation of the name: Kamafwora - wrinkled skin. The wrinkles of the skin resemble the peel of the fruit. Fwofwo - sound coming out of the stick of the tree when used as firewood.

Really sweet fruit 😋

Natural habitat and distribution in bungoma: habitat: woodland, wooded and bushed grassland, rocky sites.

Distribution: common species in grazing land and woodland, in dry rocky sites as well as in riverine vegetation.

Description: Bark silver grey, smooth, young branches hairy. Leaves broadly oval, blue-green, glabrous above but pubescent below, lateral veins conspicuous, thickened leaf stalk Flower cream to yellow, in groups of 2-4 on long stalks arising above the leaf axil. Fruit  off-shaped, reticulate surface, fleshy when ripe, yellow to orange, edible.

Physical features: Shape: shrub or small tree, understory species in dense woodland, up to 6m high. Crown: spreading. Foliage: deciduous.

Biological features:

Tree/crop association: occasionally left in cropland and in home gardens for its fruits. Biomass Production: Rather slow growing.

Other characteristics: seeds are bitter and poisonous t insects. Reproduction: seeds.

Ecological benefits: diversity aspect, soil stabilisation.

Tree products and use: dye, fruit, fuelwood, charcoal, shade, insecticide. The dried seeds are ground to powder and used as an insecticide, i.e to control lies in hair and clothes.

Medicinal application: Leaf: malaria. Roots: stomach problems, diarrhoea. Bark: used as a plaster of paris for supportive and curative purposes.Leaf/bark/root: hallucination.

Cultural features:

Story: one day there wa a fight between kumulaha and kumufwora. They fought from morning to midday but no one showed a sign of victory. The afternoon rain came but still they continued. Then Kumulaha struck into the bud of kumufwora so that a the tree split. Immediately the flesh ( heartwood ) of kumufwora was seen, lightening run across and a thunderstorm appeared. All the kimilaha trees were struck and died. The victory was for kumufwora.

Belief: The kumufwora is the mother of thunder. Roots are boiled and the drink is given to a victim of thunderstorm.

A stick from kumufwora can prevent miscarriage in calving animals after an animal has been served.