A semi-parasitic shrub that grows in clumps on the branches of host trees, with leathery leaves and bright tubular flowers.
Tapinanthus is a genus of African mistletoes in the family Loranthaceae, with some 30 accepted species. The name comes from the Greek tapeinos, "low" or "humble", and anthos, "flower". They are woody shrubs that live as hemiparasites on the branches of trees: they make their own food in their green leaves but take water and minerals from the host through special attachment organs called haustoria. Their sticky berries are spread by birds from tree to tree.
Tapinanthus globiferus is recorded from savanna and woodland, from stony savanna on hill slopes to dry grass savanna in the mountains, and GBIF holds records of it from Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali and other countries from Senegal to Ethiopia. Tapinanthus bangwensis, which Wikipedia gives as a species of the West African forest region from Senegal to Liberia and Sierra Leone, is a woody shrub with hanging stems up to 2 metres long; its flowers are red at the base, pink in the middle and grey at the tips. It grows on many hosts, among them the kola nut tree, coffee, cocoa, cassava and Acacia, and in Nigeria its leaves are used in traditional medicine for various disorders, including liver ailments. A savanna mistletoe long known as Tapinanthus dodoneifolius (now placed in Agelanthus) has white, golden yellow, deep rose or red flowers and grows on savanna trees such as the shea tree, locust bean (Parkia), tamarind, baobab, Afzelia, Pterocarpus erinaceus, Terminalia and Acacia.
Note on sources: the archive does not yet record which species the Tiv call nonor, so this profile describes the genus and the species recorded in Nigeria.
Sources: Wikipedia, "Tapinanthus"; Wikipedia, "Tapinanthus bangwensis"; PROTA4U database (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa); GBIF occurrence records (accessed 2 Nov 2026).
Not cultivated — spreads naturally when birds carry its sticky seeds to new host tree branches.