Philenoptera violacea | |
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Habit | |
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Fruit | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Faboideae |
Genus: | Philenoptera |
Species: | P. violacea |
Binomial name | |
Philenoptera violacea (Klotzsch) Schrire | |
Synonyms | |
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Philenoptera violacea known also as apple leaf or rain tree, Afrikaans : Appelblaar, Sotho : Mphata, Tsonga : Mohata, Zulu : Isihomohomo, IsiNdebele: Ichithamuzi, Idungamuzi, Iphanda) is a plant species in the legume family (Fabaceae).
The name is derived from the drops of water that fall from the tree and collect in pools on the grounds even in dry weather. This phenomenon is caused by spittle bugs (Ptyelus grossus) that infest the tree and suck the sap. After extracting sugar and salts from the sap, the almost pure water is excreted by the bugs to form the "rain". [2] [3]
The rain tree was collected and depicted as Capassa violacea by Johann Klotzsch in 1861 on a field trip to Mozambique. In 2000, it was renamed as Philenoptera violacea. [4] Homotypic synonyms include Lonchocarpus violaceus by Daniel Olivier, 1872 and Derris violacea by Hermann Harms, 1902. [1]
It is a medium sized tree with a sparse crown and the trunk and main branches are usually crooked. Leaves are compound with 1-2 pairs of lateral leaflets and a single terminal leaflet. The older leaves usually have a rough texture and are blue-green in colour. The bark is pale and flakes in large irregular discs.
The rain tree is native to South Tropical & South Africa. It is common in riverine and floodplain grasslands, and in plateau miombo woodlands. It grows on alluvium and Kalahari sands. It is found at elevations of up to 1,400 m (4,600 ft). The rain tree is often grows on termite mounds. [5]
It is found in the DRC (Katanga), Tanzania, Zambia, NE Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa (Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces), Eswatini and Okavango Delta, Botswana, SE Angola, and Swaziland. [5]
It is a protected tree in South Africa. [6]
Curtisia dentata is a flowering tree from Southern Africa. It is the sole species in genus Curtisia, which was originally classed as a type of "dogwood" (Cornaceae), but is now placed in its own unique family Curtisiaceae.
Tulbaghia is a genus of monocotyledonous herbaceous perennial bulbs native to Africa, belonging to the amaryllis family. It is one of only two known genera in the society garlic tribe within the onion subfamily. The genus was named for Ryk Tulbagh (1699–1771), one time governor of The Cape of Good Hope.
Cephalocroton is a genus of plant of the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1841. It is native to central, eastern, and southern Africa from Nigeria and Ethiopia south to KwaZulu-Natal.
Leucosidea sericea, commonly known as oldwood, is an evergreen tree or large shrub that grows in the highland regions of southern Africa. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus Leucosidea. The name oldwood may reflect the fact that the wood burns slowly, as if old and rotting; the gnarled, twisted trunks reinforce this impression.
Protea gaguedi is a species of tree which belongs to the genus Protea.
Afromorus mesozygia, known as black mulberry or African mulberry, is the only species in the genus Afromorus. The plant is a small- to medium-sized forest tree of Tropical Africa. Its leaves and fruit provide food for the mantled guereza, a colobus monkey native to much of Tropical Africa, and for the common chimpanzee of West and Central Africa. It is also a commercial hardwood.
Nymphaea nouchali, often known by its synonym Nymphaea stellata, or by common names blue lotus, star lotus, red water lily, dwarf aquarium lily, blue water lily, blue star water lily or manel flower, is a water lily of genus Nymphaea. It is native to southern and eastern parts of Asia, and is the national flower of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In Sanskrit it is called utpala. This species is usually considered to include the blue Egyptian lotus N. nouchali var. caerulea. In the past, taxonomic confusion has occurred, with the name Nymphaea nouchali incorrectly applied to Nymphaea pubescens.
Jasminium abyssinicum is a species of jasmine, in the family Oleaceae.
Rhoicissus rhomboidea, also known as the glossy forest grape, glossy wild grape, ropewood, bastard forest grape and grape ivy, is an evergreen climbing plant in the family Vitaceae that is native to the eastern forests of southern Africa.
Bridelia micrantha, the mitzeeri or the coastal golden-leaf, is a tree in the family Phyllanthaceae and is native to tropical and southern Africa as well as to the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
Tulbaghia violacea, commonly known as society garlic, pink agapanthus, wild garlic, sweet garlic, spring bulbs, or spring flowers, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. It is indigenous to southern Africa, and reportedly naturalized in Tanzania and Mexico.
Erythrophleum suaveolens, also known as the ordeal tree, is a species of flowering plant that can be found across most of tropical Africa. The species are 20 metres (66 ft) in height, and have a rough and blackish bark. The plants leaves have 2–3 pairs of pinnae, which carry 7–13 leaflets. The leaflets are 5 by 2.5 centimetres, are green coloured and ovate. The flowers have fluffy spikes, and are creamy-yellow coloured. Fruits are hard, the pod of which is flat.
Philenoptera is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes 11 species of trees, shrubs, and more rarely lianas native to sub-Saharan Africa. Typical habitats include seasonally-dry tropical forest, woodland, wooded grassland, and bushland. Four species are native to the Zambezian region, 3 species to the Sudanian region, 2 species to the Zanzibar-Inhambane and Tongaland-Pondoland regions, 1 species to the Somali-Masai region, 1 species to the Guineo-Congolian region, and 1 to Madagascar.
Tabernaemontana ventricosa is a plant in the family Apocynaceae. It grows as a shrub or small tree up to 15 metres (50 ft) tall, with a trunk diameter of up to 30 centimetres (12 in) and has white sap. Leaves are paired and crowded near the ends of branches. They are oblong, leathery and a glossy dark green. Flowers are fragrant with white, somewhat twisted lobes, often with a pale yellow center and are set in small clusters at the ends of branches. The fruit is dark green, set in spreading pairs of ellipsoids or oval, beaked pods, up to 10 centimetres (4 in) in diameter. Its habitat is forests from sea level to 1,850 metres (6,000 ft) altitude. In Zimbabwe, it is usually found as part of the understorey of evergreen forests. Local medicinal uses include the treatment of wounds, fever and hypertension. The plant is native to tropical central and southern Africa.
Raphia farinifera is a tropical African palm tree occurring in lowland riparian and swamp forest, also around human habitations and cultivated locations, on stream banks and other moist situations at altitudes of 50–1000 m. Found in Angola, Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Réunion, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and naturalised in east lowlands of Madagascar. Its generic epithet is derived from raphis = 'needle', probably in reference to the 4 mm long yellowish spines on the margins and main veins of the leaflets. The specific name refers to a type of starchy flour obtained from the trunk pith – farina = 'starch', fera = 'bearing'.
Balanites pedicellaris, the small green-thorn or small torchwood is a small tree or shrub from Sub-Saharan Africa. It is a member of the caltrop family Zygophyllaceae.
Drypetes arguta, commonly known as the water ironplum, is a species of small tree or large bush in the family Putranjivaceae. It is native to tropical East Africa. It was first described in 1920 by the English botanist John Hutchinson, who named it Cyclostemon argutus. It was later transferred to the genus Drypetes.
Dais is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is also part of the Gnidia subfamily, along with Gnidia, Drapetes, Kelleria, Pimelea, Struthiola, Lachnaea and Passerina, other genera of species). It is distributed between Tanzania to S. Africa, Madagascar. It is native to the countries of Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and it is also found within several Provinces of South Africa, such as Cape Provinces, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Provinces.
Serawaia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, first established in 2019. Its only species is Serawaia strobilifera, endemic to Borneo. The species was first described in 1994 as Callerya strobilifera.
Nymphaea petersiana is a species of the genus Nymphaea native to the region spanning from Tanzania to South Africa.