The World of Apples

The apples that aren't

Kei apple

Dovyalis afra, Salicaceae

The kei apple is a spiny shrub or small tree of valley bushveld, dry country, wooded grassland and forest edges, from the Eastern Cape through KwaZulu-Natal and Eswatini into Limpopo and Zimbabwe3; Morton placed its home in the Kei River area4. Its round fruit has a bright yellow, minutely downy skin and mealy, apricot-textured, very acid flesh4. Most people find it too acid to eat raw, and it is made into jam, jelly and, when under-ripe, pickles3,4; birds, baboons, antelope and monkeys eat it as it is3.

Planted close, it makes an impenetrable hedge3, and it tolerates drought, salty soil and salt spray4. It reached England in 1838, and from there Egypt, Algeria, southern France and Italy, the Philippines, north-western Australia, Jamaica, California and Florida4. In Israel it was once widely planted as a hedge round citrus groves, but its fruit was not liked, piled up on the ground and bred the Mediterranean fruit fly, so nearly all the plants were destroyed4.

Where the sources disagree

  • The name. Kew and the South African National Biodiversity Institute call it Dovyalis afra; its former epithet is no longer used because it is an offensive slur2,3. GBIF’s backbone still lists it under the old name1, as Morton did4.
  • Size. Morton gives the fruit as 2.5 to 4 cm long4; the South African account, up to 60 mm across3.

Sources

  1. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: the kei apple, under its former name, Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Supports: the family Salicaceae; the species still listed in the GBIF backbone under its former epithet.
  2. Plants of the World Online: Dovyalis afra, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: the accepted name Dovyalis afra and the native range, "S. Trop. & S. Africa".
  3. Dovyalis afra, Phillemon Ndou, Witwatersrand National Botanical Gardens, PlantZAfrica, South African National Biodiversity Institute, April 2003. Supports: the names Kei-apple and Kei-appel; the range and habitat; fruits up to 60 mm across, yellowish orange, eaten by birds, baboons, antelope and monkeys, and made into jam; the impenetrable hedge; drought resistance; the change of epithet to afra because the former one is an offensive slur.
  4. Kei Apple, in Fruits of Warm Climates, Julia F. Morton, Purdue University NewCROP, 1987. Supports: the Kei River area as its home; the fruit 2.5 to 4 cm long, its skin and very acid flesh; too acid to eat raw for most people; jam, jelly and pickles; tolerance of salt spray; England in 1838 and the countries it went to from there; the hedges round Israeli citrus groves and the Mediterranean fruit fly.