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Ximenia afra; photograph Paul venter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAPaul venter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ximenia afra Sond.

Olacaceae · Burundi, Rwanda +19

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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GBIF's records not checked. GBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked. So this page has no points on its map, no map marker, no habitat climate, no cultivation sheet and no species of nearest climate; the range is Kew's. Not a statement that none exist. How.

Ximenia afra, photograph Paul venter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsXimenia afra, photograph Paul venter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsXimenia afra, photograph Paul venter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsXimenia afra, photograph Paul venter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsXimenia afra, photograph Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsXimenia afra, photograph Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›

Summary

Ximenia afra, the sourplum, is a small tree or small shrub that is thinly branched. It is part of the Olacaceae family which is native throughout tropical regions. In particular, the sourplum is native to regions in South East Africa, mainly Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Sourplum fruits are generally sour, with a dry aftertaste, and contain significant amounts of potassium. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ximenia afra", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Not checked: GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the habitat climate is read only from them, so no sheet is derived.

Climate across the habitat

Not checked. GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the habitat climate is read only from them, so none is derived here. This is not a statement that no climate exists.

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP.
Records not checked: GBIF's records were not asked, as said under the name.
NativeBurundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Caprivi Strip, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Comoros, Madagascar · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedGBIF's records not checked, as said under the name: so there are no points on the map, no map marker and no climate across the range; the range is Kew's. Not a statement that no record exists.

Photographs

Ximenia afra, photograph 1did not loadXimenia afra, photograph 2did not loadXimenia afra, photograph 3did not loadXimenia afra, photograph 4did not loadXimenia afra, photograph 5did not loadXimenia afra, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Paul venter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (4); Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2).

Similar habitat climate Not checked: GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the nearest habitat climates are read from the climate they give.

Other Ximenia 1 in the reference

Ximenia americana Ximenia americana Tallowwood Photo: CC BY-SA, Dave U

Names & registers

Also known as Ximenia americana var. afra. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Olacaceae
Described by
Sond.
Native to
Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia +18
Records
not checked · GBIF's records were not asked: the page has no GBIF key

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Ximenia afra Sond. (plant_name_id 2467211), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
Habitat climate climate not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked, and the habitat climate is read only from them
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 608572-1, POWO 608572-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence.

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