Combretum constrictum

Native to Nigeria and eastern Africa from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique, it is a woody climber or scrambling shrub, growing about five to ten feet tall as a shrub. It occurs in riverine forests, seasonal and tidal swamps, and coastal forest margins. Its nearly opposite, oblong to elliptical leaves are usually hairless or almost so. Short leaf stalks persist as blunt, slightly curved spines. Large, club-shaped buds open into red or pink flowers in short, headlike clusters at branch tips and in the leaf axils. Each flower has five narrow, hairy petals and long projecting stamens. The flower tube narrows distinctly in the middle before widening into a funnel at its mouth. The elliptical fruits have five angles. Photographed in Florida.