Research Article Phenotypic Variation in Fruit Morphology among Provenances of Sclerocarya birrea (A. Rich.) Hochst. Idah Mkwezalamba, 1,2 Chimuleke R. Y. Munthali, 1 and Edward Missanjo 3 1 Department of Forestry, Mzuzu University, Private Bag Box 201, Luwinga, Mzuzu 2, Malawi 2 Forestry Research Institute of Malawi, P.O. Box 270, Zomba, Malawi 3 Department of Forestry, Malawi College of Forestry and Wildlife, Private Bag Box 6, Dedza, Malawi Correspondence should be addressed to Edward Missanjo; edward.em2@gmail.com Received 13 June 2015; Revised 8 September 2015; Accepted 29 September 2015 Academic Editor: Ignacio Garc´ ıa-Gonz´ alez Copyright © 2015 Idah Mkwezalamba et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Sclerocarya birrea (A. Rich.) Hochst. is a multipurpose fruit tree which is very useful in providing food security and meeting nutritional and economic needs. his study was conducted to assess eighteen provenances of Sclerocarya birrea planted in Mangochi, Malawi. he trial was assessed for fruit traits at iteen years of age. here were signiicant ( < 0.001) variations among the provenances in number of fruits, fruit weight, pulp weight, seed weight, fruit length, and diameter. Magunde provenance from Mozambique had the highest mean number of fruits, 2196 ± 200. Mangochi and Moamba provenances from Malawi and Mozambique were the most outstanding in the other parameters measured attaining the mean fruit weight of 20.89 ± 0.25 g and 25.67 ± 0.67 g, pulp weight of 25.70 ± 0.08 g and 21.55 ± 0.83 g, seed weight of 4.81 ± 0.35 g and 4.12 ± 0.18 g, fruit length of 2.61 ± 0.14 cm and 2.33 ± 0.07 cm, and fruit diameter of 2.33 ± 0.15 cm and 1.97 ± 0.08 cm, respectively. here was no signiicant ( > 0.05) correlation between number of fruits and the other fruit traits. However, there were signiicant ( < 0.05) and strong positive relationships between fruit weight and pulp weight ( = 0.987) and fruit length and diameter ( = 0.775). his suggests that fruit weight can be used indirectly for selection of pulp. Further studies should investigate fruit taste quality of products from the fruits. 1. Introduction Sclerocarya birrea (A. Rich.) Hochst. is a member of the Anacardiaceae [1, 2]. he genus name Sclerocarya is derived from the Greek word skleros, meaning hard, and karyon, meaning a nut which refers to the hard stone of the fruit. It is a multipurpose fruit tree occurring in the semiarid, deciduous savannas in sub-Saharan Africa [3]. Sclerocarya birrea under normal conditions can grow up to 15 m, although under favourable conditions it can go up to 20 m with a mean diameter of 80–100 cm at maturity [4]. It occurs in areas receiving 200–1600 mm rainfall per annum having sandy to loamy soils. In Malawi, the species thrives mainly in hot dry areas at 500–1000 m altitude above sea level with mean annual rainfall of 900–1000 mm and mean annual temperature of 22- 23 ∘ C. Furthermore, the species thrives in hydromorphic soils with limited drainage which are seasonally waterlogged [5]. Most S. birrea trees are dioecious, and the monoecious ones are predominantly male. he fruit is abscised when ripening commences so that inal ripening takes place on the ground. Male and female lowers are borne on separate trees; the lowers of male plants produce pollen and the female lowers produce the fruit. he fruits are green on the tree and turn yellow ater falling. he compound leaves tend to be mostly crowded at the end of the branches. A big and mature tree of S. birrea is capable of producing 21,000 to 91,000 fruits. In southern Africa, lowering occurs towards the end of dry season (September to November) and fruiting occurs in wet season (January to May). Like many riverine species, it is dispersed by water streams and shows adaptation to water dispersal by having air spaces in the fruits [6, 7]. Sclerocarya birrea is widely used for its fruits, timber, bark, and medicine. Sclerocarya birrea has multiple uses, including the fruits that are eaten fresh or fermented to make beer, the kernels are eaten, the oil is also extracted, and the leaves are browsed by livestock and have medicinal uses, as Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Journal of Forestry Research Volume 2015, Article ID 735418, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/735418