Sterculia africana | |
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S. africana taken in Namaso Bay, Southern Lake Malawi. | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Malvaceae |
Genus: | Sterculia |
Species: | S. africana |
Binomial name | |
Sterculia africana | |
Synonyms | |
Triphaca africana Lour. Contents |
Sterculia africana [2] is a deciduous tree, belonging to the genus Sterculia and the family Malvaceae (previously the Sterculiaceae, now relegated to a subfamily). [3] The species is sometimes called the "mopopaja tree". It is distributed throughout Northeast Africa to Arabia.
Sterculia africana is a deciduous tree that grows up to 8m tall, it is monoecious, with a single trunk and rounded crown. S.africana has smooth and flaking bark that is grey or pinkish brown. The leaves alternate, crowded at the ends of branches, orbicular, 8–15 cm long x 8–15 cm across. Leaves are 3-5 lobed and covered in stellate hairs. Flowers appear before the leaves 1.5–2 cm across, in axillary panicles. Flowers are unisexual with both sexes being found on the same tree. They have no petals, but the calyx is coloured and functions as a corolla. In the male flowers the numerous anthers are fused together to form a column. The fruits consist of 3-5 spreading, ovoid lobes which split at maturity and are covered with dense golden hairs. The inside surface of the lobes contain small stinging hairs. [4]
Stercula africana sheds its leaves during the dry season and comes into flower before the leaves reappear at the start of the monsoon. Small quantities of resin ooze from the bark of the trunk and larger branches. [5]
Sterculia africana has been recorded in southeastern Egypt, Eastern Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, northern Somalia, southern Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, eastern Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia's Caprivi Strip. [6] No subspecies are listed in the Catalogue of Life. [3] Variety socotrana is endemic to the island of Socotra. [7]
Sterculia africana grows in dry woodlands on limestone escarpments and the sides of wadis [7] usually at elevations of below 600m. [8]
Resin was traditionally used as a washing agent in Arabia. The hardened resin was mixed with water or spittle and then rubbed over the body. It was also a treatment to treat head lice. It is an important fodder and the wood was used to make fishing platforms. [5]
The current population is stable however as it is an important fodder for cattle, if the livestock populations increase, the tree would come under increasing threat. [7]
Oxydendrum arboreum, the sourwood or sorrel tree, is the sole species in the genus Oxydendrum, in the family Ericaceae. It is native to eastern North America, from southern Pennsylvania south to northwest Florida and west to southern Illinois; it is most common in the lower chain of the Appalachian Mountains. The tree is frequently seen as a component of oak-heath forests.
Acer pensylvanicum, known as the striped maple, moosewood, moose maple or goosefoot maple, is a small North American species of maple. The striped maple is a sequential hermaphrodite, meaning that it can change its sex throughout its lifetime.
Quercus pontica, the Pontine oak or Armenian oak, is a species of oak native to the western Caucasus mountains of Georgia and northeastern Turkey and Armenia, where it grows at altitudes of 1,300-2,100 m.
Sterculia quadrifida, also known as the peanut tree, or red-fruited kurrajong is a small tree that grows in the rainforests, vine thickets, and gallery forests of New Guinea and northern Australia.
Euonymus atropurpureus is a species of shrub in the bittersweet family. It has the common names American wahoo, eastern wahoo, burningbush, and hearts bursting with love. It is native to eastern North America.
Spirostachys africana is a medium-sized deciduous tree with a straight, clear trunk, occurring in the warmer parts of Southern Africa. Its wood is known as tamboti, tambotie, tambootie or tambuti.
Acer rufinerve, the grey-budded snake-bark-maple, redvein maple or Honshū maple, is a species of tree in the snakebark maple group, related to Acer capillipes. It is native to mountain forests of Japan, on Honshū, Kyūshū and Shikoku.
Adansonia perrieri, or Perrier's baobab, is a critically endangered species of deciduous tree, in the genus Adansonia. This species is endemic to northern Madagascar. It has been documented in only 10 locations, including Ankarana, Ampasindava, Loky Manambato and Montagne d'Ambre protected areas. Most populations, however, are outside of protected areas. Each location has few individuals. With an estimated population of fewer than 250 mature individuals and ongoing habitat decline due to fire and cutting for charcoal and timber or clearing for mining, this species has been assessed by IUCN as Critically Endangered. There are three species of baobab found in northern Madagascar, all sharing the common name "bozy".
Afzelia africana, the African mahogany, afzelia, lenke, lengue, apa, or doussi, is a tree species in the family Fabaceae.
Mimetes arboreus, or Kogelberg pagoda, is an evergreen, upright large shrub or small tree of 2–6 m (6½–20 ft) high in the family Proteaceae. It grows from a thick trunk with a smooth grey bark that branches at ½–1 m (1½–3 ft) above the ground. It has silvery, lance-shaped, pointy leaves of 5–8¼ cm (2.0–3.3 in) long and ¾–3¼ cm (0.3–1.3 in) wide, at an upward angle and overlapping each other. The inflorescences are set just below the top of the branches, are cylinder-shaped, 8–10 cm in diameter, topped by a crest of more or less horizontal pinkish or reddish tinged leaves. It consists of several flower heads in the axils of pinkish orange leaves that form a hood shielding the underlying flower head. Each flower head contains eight to thirteen individual flowers, with bright red styles and grey silky perianth lobes. It is endemic to the Fynbos ecoregion of South Africa, being confined to the Kogelberg mountain range.
Betula cordifolia, the mountain paper birch is a birch species native to Eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. Until recently it was considered a variety of Betula papyrifera, with which it shares many characteristics, and it was classified as B. papyrifera var. cordifolia (Regel) Fern.
Fagus japonica, known as the Japanese beech, Japanese blue beech or in Japanese as inubuna or kurobuna, is a deciduous tree of the beech family Fagaceae.
Planera is a genus of flowering plants with a single species, Planera aquatica, the planertree or water elm. Found in the southeastern United States, it is a small deciduous tree 10–15 m tall, closely related to the elms but with a softly, prickly nut 10–15 mm diameter, instead of a winged seed. It grows, as the name suggests, on wet sites. Despite its common English name, this species is not a true elm, although it is a close relative of the elms. It is also subject to Dutch elm disease, a disease which affects only members of the Ulmaceae. It is native to most of the southeast United States. It is hardy down to Zone 7.
Acer tegmentosum, the Manchurian striped maple, is a species of deciduous tree in the maple genus, which is native to the southern part of the Russian Far East, northeastern China, and Korea.
Sterculia apetala, commonly known as the Panama tree, camoruco, manduvi tree or anacagüita, is a species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. It is found in Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean islands. Sterculia apetala is recognized as the national tree of the Republic of Panama.
Vachellia flava, synonym Acacia ehrenbergiana, is a species of drought-resistant bush or small tree, commonly known as salam in Arabic. It is found in the Sahara, the northern Sahel, parts of East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Commiphora habessinica, sometimes known as Abyssinian myrrh or the Yemen myrrh, is a plant native to northeast Africa and the Arabian peninsula, including Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi, Oman and Yemen. It was first described by Otto Karl Berg in 1862 as Balsamodendrum habessinicum from northeast Africa. It was then transferred to the genus Commiphora by Adolf Engler in 1883, but given the name Commiphora abyssinica, an orthographical variant. It can be recognised by its simple, serrate leaves and by the pseudo aril, covering the seed, which has four almost linear arm-like lobes.
Sterculia urens is a species of plant in the family Malvaceae. It is native to India and has been introduced into Burma. A small to medium-sized tree with a pale-coloured trunk, it is commonly known as the bhutyā in Marathi, kulu, Indian tragacanth, gum karaya, katira, sterculia gum or kateera gum. The specific name urens refers to the stinging hairs present on the flowers.
Quercus similis, the swamp post oak or bottomland post oak, is an oak species native to the southeastern and south-central United States. The greatest concentration of populations is in Louisiana and Arkansas, Mississippi, and eastern Texas, with isolated population in Missouri, Alabama, and the Coastal Plain of Georgia and South Carolina.
Sterculia setigera is a deciduous tree species within the Malvaceae family. It commonly occurs in the Sahelo-Sudan and Guinea savannah zones of Tropical Africa. Among the Hausa people it is known as Kukkuki. It is an important tree crop in Senegal as Gum karaya obtained from the woody species is exported from the country.