Region: tropical Africa, Senegal to southern Sudan, Uganda and Kenya; south through east Africa to S. Africa.
Habitat: seasonally wet grasslands, deciduous thickets, wooded grassland, woodland, riverine forests, old termite mounds and rocky hillsides; cleared natural vegetation; at elevations from sea level to 2,200 metres.
Content: fruit vitamin C.
BotanyScrambling shrub, climber or extensive liana.
Stem: vary from 0.5 - 9 metres long.
Root: thick; 1 metre long; looks like cassava with a red outer skin.
Use: edible fruit; ornamental.
Fruit: sweet flavour; red-blue-purple-black, round berries; ± 1 cm in diameter, containing many shiny brown seeds in a green pulp.