THIS unusual plant is easy to identify by its very thick, smooth, olive brown to pale yellow trunk, which either forms a small tree with long branches winding around the neighbouring vegetation or – in the absence of such support – sends its long twisting branches sprawling along the ground.
In Namibia, the Python vine is found from Outjo up to the Kunene, also eastward into the Otavi Mountains and at two separate localities in the western and eastern Zambezi region. It also occurs in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique.
In Namibia, particularly striking examples can be found on the hill behind the Buschveld Park Lodge a couple of kilometres north of Outjo and on the guest farm Matunda near the turn-off to Kamanjab. Another opportunity to see this interesting plant is by visiting the “Kupferquelle Resort“ at Tsumeb.
All three these hospitality institutions have marked hiking trails along which the trees and shrubs are tagged with the Southern African tree numbers. On the reverse side of the tags you may find the botanical name while the reception can provide a list of the numbers, the botanical and the English, German and Afrikaans names of the plants.
Names: G. Pythonranke; A. luislangplant, H. otjipwiya; Kavango languages: mbona
The pale trunk on the photo belongs to the Python vine, while the dark trunk belongs to a bird plum (Berchemia discolour), around which the Python vine is winding. The foliage on the Photo is mainly that of the bird plum tree. The thick tuberous trunk of the Python vine absorbs large quantities of water during the rainy season and stores them for the dry season.
It frequently has paired knobbly protuberances and may reach a diameter of 60cm and a length of 15m.
The opposite leaves can become as large as 100 x 80 mm. They are shiny dark green above and grey-felty below and can be found on the plant from November to May. They are often clustered on branchlets.
The species name “multiflora“ tells us that this plant bears numerous flowers. Growing in dense clusters, they appear from August to October and are sweetly scented, yellow-green and star-shaped with narrow, fleshy, recurving sepals arranged around a white centre shaped like an inverted little bell.
The fruit is a paired, horn-like capsule which bursts open when ripe.
The Python vine belongs to the oleander family or Apocinaceae, many members of which are poisonous, e.g. the so-called Bushman poison (Adenium boehianum), the Elephant vine (Strophanthus amboensis) and the Bottle tree (Pachypodium lealii). Yet, in Tanzania the fragrant flowers of the Python vine are eaten as a vegetable.
An alcoholic extract of the above-ground parts of the Python vine is used as a rub to alleviate back pain while the milky latex serves as an arrow poison and may also be used to poison large carnivores.
In Europe this plant is quite popular as a pot or bonsai plant. As such, it will hardly develop into the large and amazingly bizarre plants found in Namibia. It grows slowly and can reportedly reach an age of 200 years.
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