Vangueria_infausta
Vangueria infausta
Species of tree
Vangueria infausta, the medlar[1] or African medlar, is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae, which is native to the southern and eastern Afrotropics. Some other names for V. infausta in Southern African languages include mmilo in Northern Sotho, muzwilu in Venḓa, umviyo in Southern Ndebele, mothwani in Tswana and umtulwa in Zulu.[2][3][4][5]
The fruits are consumed by humans and have a pleasant apple-like flavor. The specific name infausta alludes to a superstition that an evil spirit lives within the tree and the misfortune from its use as firewood which is said to 'unlock' the evil spirit from the wood.[6] Many indigenous african names for V. infausta come from the Prot-Bantu mìdìdò (plural "fires").[7][8][9][10]