Magic Rope

Sometimes a scrambling shrub, often a strong liane, up to 30 m high. Bark pale yellow-orange, thick and corky; inner bark fibrous; branches with pale lenticels, milky sap and tendrils present. Leaves opposite, obovate with a distinct drip-tip, 5-14 cm long, leathery, dark green, softly hairy, hair-tuft domatia often present in the axils of the veins below; base tapering with 2 small glands above; margin entire. Flowers in lax axillary sprays, yellow-green, corolla lobes often reflexed. Fruit in pendulous paired slender follicles, 10-30 cm long, pale brown.

Cameroon, CAR, DRC, Ethiopia; Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sudan, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and KwaZulu-Natal, S Africa.

Oncinotis tenuiloba grows as a scrambling shrub or liana up to 30 metres (98 ft) long. Its flowers feature a yellow-green corolla. Fruit is pale brown with paired follicles, each up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long. Vernacular names for the plant include "magic-rope". Its habitat is evergreen forest from sea-level to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) altitude. O. tenuiloba is found in Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.