| Croton macrostachyus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
| Genus: | Croton |
| Species: | C. macrostachyus |
| Binomial name | |
| Croton macrostachyus Hochst. ex Delile | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
| |
Croton macrostachyus is a species of flowering plant native to the mountains of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Croton macrostachyus is a deciduous tree. It generally grows 6 to 12 meters tall, and occasionally up to 30 meters. It has a spreading, rounded, and open crown, and a cylindrical bole which can grow up to 100cm in diameter. [3]
Croton macrostachyus ranges across the mountains of Sub-Saharan Africa, including the Guinea Highlands of Guinea, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire, the Cameroon Highlands of Cameroon and Nigeria, the highlands of central Angola, and the mountains of eastern Africa from the Ethiopian Highlands through the mountains of the Eastern Rift, Albertine Rift, and Southern Rift to Mount Tumbine in Mozambique and the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. [1] [2]
It inhabits Afromontane evergreen forest, Brachystegia woodland, and wooded grassland. It is often found on rocky hillsides, in evergreen riverine and gully forests, in swamp forests, and on termitaria between 825 and 1,830 meters elevation, and occasionally up to 2,165 meters. [3]
Croton macrostachyus is a food plant for the butterfly Charaxes candiope [4] and the moths Nudaurelia gueinzii and Stomphastis heringi . [5]
Croton macrostachyus has a wide range of uses, including timber, agroforestry, medicine, and as an ornamental plant. [3]
The plant is fast-growing and drought-tolerant, and is used in reforestation projects, for erosion control, and as a shade tree in coffee plantations. Its flowers are attractive to bees, and its leaves are used for mulch and green manure to improve soil. It is also used as a hedge or an ornamental and shade tree in gardens. [3]
Its wood is cream-colored, moderately soft, of medium weight, and perishable. It is used for carpentry, boxes, crates, and tools, but more frequently for fuel and charcoal. [3]
The plant is somewhat toxic, but most parts of the plant are used for a variety of medical treatments, particularly for ridding the body of parasites and toxins and treating skin conditions. Juice from crushed leaves is used as an anthelmintic, applied to wounds to hasten clotting, and used to treat sores, warts, ringworm, and itchy scalp. Root decoctions are also used as an anthelmintic and to treat malaria and venereal diseases. Root decoctions and the oil from seeds are used as a purgative or as an abortifacient. [3]
Podocarpus latifolius is a large evergreen tree up to 35 m high and 3 m trunk diameter, in the conifer family Podocarpaceae; it is the type species of the genus Podocarpus.
Mount Cameroon is an active volcano in the South West region of Cameroon next to the city of Buea near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako or by its indigenous name Mongo ma Ndemi.
Alnus jorullensis, commonly known as Mexican alder, is an evergreen or semi-evergreen alder, native to eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Although previously reported from the Andes, further collections showed these to be the similar species Alnus acuminata, commonly found in South America.
Ricinodendron is a plant genus in the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1864. It includes only one known species, Ricinodendron heudelotii, native to tropical Africa from Senegal + Liberia east to Sudan and Tanzania and south to Mozambique and Angola. It produces an economically important oilseed. The tree is known as munguella (Angola), njangsa (Cameroon), bofeko (Zaire), wama (Ghana), okhuen (Nigeria), kishongo (Uganda), akpi, djansang, essang, ezezang and njasang. Two varieties of the tree species are recognized R. heudelotii var. heudelotii in Ghana and R. heudelotii var. africanum in Nigeria and westwards.
Harungana is a genus of African flowering plants within the St. Johnswort family, Hypericaceae.
Cussonia spicata, known as spiked cabbage tree, lowveld cabbage tree or common cabbage tree, is a tree in the family Araliaceae, which is native to the moister regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. It is cultivated as a garden plant in areas without extreme degrees of frost. It is one of the favorite foods of wild elephants.
The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions of Africa are discontinuous, separated from each other by lower-lying areas, and are sometimes referred to as the Afromontane archipelago, as their distribution is analogous to a series of sky islands.
Podocarpus matudae is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is found in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico.
Podocarpus milanjianus is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is native to the highlands and mountains of tropical Africa.
The Harenna Forest is a montane tropical evergreen forest in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains. The forest covers the southern slope of the mountains, extending from 1450 to 3200 meters elevation. The Bale Mountains are in Ethiopia's Oromia Region, and form the southwestern portion of the Ethiopian Highlands.
Ilex mitis is a tall, dense, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It makes an excellent fast-growing hedge for gardens - growing tall, straight and dense.
The Ethiopian montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in eastern Africa. It covers the middle elevations of the Ethiopian Highlands in Ethiopia and extends into neighboring Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti, and Somaliland. The ecoregion includes distinctive Afromontane forests, woodlands, grasslands, and shrublands. The ecoregion's biodiversity is threatened by deforestation, conversion to agriculture, and overgrazing.
Newtonia buchananii is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae.
Garcinia sessilis, commonly known as heilala in Tongan, is an evergreen tree native to the Pacific regions of Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The heilala flower is the national flower of Tonga.
Mimusops laurifolia is a large evergreen tree, native to the Ethiopian Highlands and the highlands of southeastern Arabian Peninsula.
Albizia altissima is a low branching tree within the Fabaceae family, it grows along river banks in the Lower and Upper Guinea forests..
Cassipourea malosana is a species of plant native to tropical Africa.
Polyscias fulva is a species of flowering plant. It is an evergreen or deciduous tree, native to the mountains of tropical Africa and the southwestern Arabian Peninsula.
Galiniera saxifraga is a species of tree or small shrub native to the highlands of eastern and central Africa.
Drimys brasiliensis is a broadleaf evergreen tree of family Winteraceae. it is native to Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil, western Paraguay, and northwestern Argentina, and to Bolivia.
