Afrocarpus falcatus
Ordinary African Yellow Wood ( Afrocarpus falcatus )
The Ordinary African Yellow Wood ( Afrocarpus falcatus ) is a species of the genus of African yellow wood ( Afrocarpus ) in the family of Podocarpus plants ( Podocarpaceae ). The evergreen tree is native to southern Africa.
Description
The Ordinary African yellow wood grows as a tree and reaches heights of growth of mostly 10 to 25, rarely up to 60 meters. The trunk is larger specimens knotless up to over 20 meters in height. It can be achieved trunk diameter of up to two meters. The bark of the trunk is brown -gray to purplish gray; on young trees is more or less smooth; in older specimens it jumps into thin rectangular to rounded scales.
The branches are round in cross section, or - especially in younger specimens - square; the leaf bases of fallen leaves left raised furrows on branch. The terminal buds are about 1 millimeter in size. The outer bud scales are very slim triangular, 2 to 2.5 mm long and about 1 mm wide. The leaves are spirally arranged; they are glossy dark green to yellow-green. At the base of the leaves have turned, so they get a crescent- shaped appearance. The leaves are narrowly linear - lanceolate to linear -elliptic and ends acute to obtuse; they are 2 to 4 (more rarely 1 to 5) inches long and 2 to 4 ( rare 1.2 to 6 ) mm wide. Young leaves are sometimes up to 12 inches long. The center rib is slightly raised on the bottom. On both sides of the sheet as 14 to 20 Stomabänder are present.
The species is dioecious. Male cones are available individually or in groups of two to four pieces; they are sitting on nearly sessile. The male cones are 5-13 mm long and about 3 millimeters wide; they are brownish. The pollen sacs are 0.6 to 0.7 mm long and 0.3 to 0.4 millimeters wide. The female cones are individually; they are 7-27 mm long and 1.5 to 2.5 mm wide; only the outermost scale is a seed. The approximately 1.5 inches large seeds are round to obovoid; they are glossy green to gray- green and surrounded by a covered with a layer of wax aril. When mature, they become reddish brown light yellow to light. The resinous aril is edible; he serves, among other birds, monkeys and bats as a food source.
The seeds are germinating happy only after removal of the fleshy aril; apparently the aril contains germination inhibiting substances.
Distribution and location
The Ordinary African yellow wood is native to southern Africa. It occurs in coastal and montane forests of the Western Cape in South Africa in an easterly and northerly direction to the Limpopo and southern Mozambique ago.
System
Published in 1800, the Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg, a description under the taxon Taxus falcata, the kind that is located first in the genus of yew (Taxus ) a. The specific epithet falcata is Latin for " crescent- shaped" and refers to the appearance of the leaves.
The British botanist Robert Brown described the species under the taxon Podocarpus falcatus; its description was published in 1825 by the French botanist Charles François de Brisseau Mirbel. The French botanist Élie -Abel Carrière forgave the type 1869, the taxon Nageia falcata. 1969 ordered David John de Laubenfels the species under the taxon Decussocarpus falcatus again another genus.
It was not until 1989, the botanist Christopher Nigel Page, the species under the now recognized taxon Afrocarpus falcatus in the genus Afrocarpus.
Use
The wood is used for making furniture, beams, flooring, door and window frames and in boat building. Many famous antiques from Yellow Wood in South Africa were made from the wood of this kind. The strains were formerly used as the masthead in shipbuilding. The bark is used for tanning leather.
Special copies
From the Department of Water and Forests ( Water and Forestry Ministry ) in South Africa some of the largest trees have been honored as "Champion Trees"; Among these are the following:
- The " Tsitsikamma Big Tree " with a height of 39 meters and a diameter at breast height of the tribe of 3.13 meters. The crown of this copy is 37.5 meters wide (Robert Van Pelt, measured values of 2003). This tree is in Plaatbos Nature Reserve, Storms River State Forest, Storms River, Eastern Cape and is a tourist attraction.
- The "King Edward VII Tree" is the highest of all copies of published and is in Diepwalle State Forest, Knysna, Western Cape.
- The " Woodville Big Tree " ( Coordinates: 33,934 ° S, 22 645 ° E ) is also developed for tourism; he is in Bergplaas State Forest, Collins ' Hoek, Western Cape.
- The "Eastern Monarch " is located near the Tyume mountain path in Auckland Nature Reserve Hogsback, Keiskamma State Forest, Eastern Cape.
Swell
- Information on the type of The Gymnosperm Database (English)
- Illustrated description at plantzafrica.com (English)