Saba comorensis

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Gentianales

Familia: Apocynaceae
Subfamilia: Rauvolfioideae
Tribus: Willughbeieae
Subtribus: Landolphiinae
Genus: Saba
Species: Saba comorensis
Name

Saba comorensis (Bojer ex A.DC.) Pichon, 1953
Synonyms

Basionym
Vahea comorensis Bojer ex A.DC. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 8: 328 (1844).
Homotypic
Landolphia comorensis (Bojer ex A.DC.) K.Schum., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 15: 402 (1892).
Landolphia florida var. comorensis (Bojer ex A.DC.) A.Chev., Rev. Int. Bot. Appl. Agric. Trop. 28: 395 (1948).
Pacouria comorensis (Bojer ex A.DC.) Roberty, Bull. Inst. Franç. Afrique Noire 15: 1427 (1953).
Heterotypic
Landolphia florida Benth. in W.J.Hooker, Niger Fl.: 444 (1849).
Willughbeia cordata Klotzsch in W.C.H.Peters, Naturw. Reise Mossambique 6(1): 283 (1861).
Landolphia florida var. leiantha Oliv., Trans. Linn. Soc. London 29: 107 (1875).
Vahea florida (Benth.) F.Muell., Extra-trop. Pl. Indian ed.: 344 (1880).
Landolphia comorensis var. florida (Benth.) K.Schum., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 15: 404 (1892).
Landolphia cordata (Klotzsch) K.Schum., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 15: 406 (1892).
Pacouria florida (Benth.) Hiern, Cat. Afr. Pl. 1: 662 (1898).
Landolphia mayottensis Pierre ex Poiss., Rech. Fl. Mérid. Madagascar: 162 (1912).
Landolphia dubia Lassia, Mascarenhasia Landolph. Madagascar: 76 (1927).
Pacouria dubia (Lassia) Pichon, Mém. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 24: 144 (1948).
Saba comorensis var. florida (Benth.) Pichon, Mém. Inst. Franç. Afrique Noire 35: 309 (1953).
Saba florida (Benth.) Bullock, Kew Bull. 13: 391 (1958 publ. 1959).

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Africa
Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, D.R. Congo (Zaire), Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola (incl. Cabinda), Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Comores (Mayotte, etc.), Madagascar

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References

Pichon, M., 1953. Mém. Inst. Franç. Afrique Noire 35: 303

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2018. Saba comorensis in Kew Science Plants of the World Online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Oct. 24. Reference page.
Hassler, M. 2018. Saba comorensis. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2018. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Oct. 24. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2018. Saba comorensis. Published online. Accessed: Oct. 24 2018. Reference page.
The Plant List 2013. Saba comorensis in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Oct. 24.
Tropicos.org 2018. Saba comorensis. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 24 Oct. 2018.

Saba comorensis is a species of flowering plant in the Apocynaceae family.[2] It is commonly called bungo fruit (pl. mabungo), mbungo, or rubber vine and is widespread across most of tropical Africa as well as in Madagascar and Comoros. The fruit looks similar to an orange with a hard orange peel but when opened it contains a dozen or so pips, which have the same texture as a mango seed. The fruit also makes a delicious juice drink which has been described as tasting "somewhere between a mango, an orange and a pineapple"[3] The aromatic juice of the bungo fruit is also popular and highly appreciated on Pemba Island and other parts of coastal Tanzania.[4]

In the Tanzanian Mahale Mountains National Park, S. comorensis is dispersed by chimpanzees.[5]
References

1885 illustration from Franz Eugen Köhler, in Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
"Saba comorensis (Bojer ex A.DC.) Pichon". Plants of the World Online. The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. n.d. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
"Of all the gin joints in all the world"[dead link], The Times, retrieved 30 July 2009] "The highlight is a juice from the bungo fruit, indigenous to Zanzibar, which has a taste somewhere between a mango, an orange and a pineapple."
"Saba comorensis in Agroforestree Database" (PDF). web page. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
James V. Wakibara. Abundance and dispersion of some chimpanzee-dispersed fruiting plants at Mahale, Tanzania. African Journal of Ecology Vol. 43, Issue 2, pp. 107–113, May 2005. Article first published online: 27 MAY 2005. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2005.00553.x