– Fruit:
– Known as mongongo fruits, mongongo nuts, manketti nuts, nongongo
– Egg-shaped, velvety fruits ripen and fall between March and May each year
– Fruits contain a thin exocarp around a thick, hard, pitted shell with an edible nut
– Distribution:
– Widely distributed through subtropical southern Africa
– Largest distribution belt reaches from northern Namibia into northern Botswana, south-western Zambia, and western Zimbabwe
– Other distribution belts found in eastern Malawi, eastern Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania, and Zaire
– Taxonomy:
– Genus Schinziophyton circumscribed by John Hutchinson ex. Alan Radcliffe-Smith in 1990
– Genus name Schinziophyton honors Swiss explorer and botanist Hans Schinz (1858–1941)
– Traditional uses:
– Mongongo nuts are staple diet among the San people of northern Botswana and Namibia
– Archaeological evidence shows consumption by San communities for centuries
– Nuts store well and remain edible for much of the year
– Nuts are cooked after peeling, and the pulp is eaten while nuts are saved for roasting
– Oil from nuts used as a body rub, wood used for fishing floats, toys, insulating material, and drawing boards
– See also:
– Post-scarcity economy
– References:
– Wikimedia Commons has media related to Schinziophyton rautanenii
– Schinziophyton Hutch. ex Radcl.Sm. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science
– Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names (pdf) by Lotte Burkhardt
– The Mongongo Nut, Ricinodendron rautanenii by UHIS
– “What Hunters Do for a Living, or, How to Make Out on Scarce Resources” by Richard B. Lee
The mongongo tree, mongongo nut or manketti tree (Schinziophyton rautanenii) is a member of the family Euphorbiaceae and of the monotypic genus Schinziophyton. A large, spreading tree, the mongongo reaches 15–20 metres tall. It is found on wooded hills and among sand dunes, and is associated with the Kalahari sand soil-types. The leaves are a distinctive hand-shape, and the pale yellow wood is similar in characteristics to balsa, being both lightweight and strong. The yellowish flowers occur in slender, loose sprays.
| Mongongo nut | |
|---|---|
| |
| Schinziophyton rautanenii | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Crotonoideae |
| Tribe: | Ricinodendreae |
| Genus: | Schinziophyton Hutch. ex Radcl.-Sm. |
| Species: | S. rautanenii
|
| Binomial name | |
| Schinziophyton rautanenii | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Ricinodendron rautanenii Schinz | |