Khaya anthotheca
Khaya anthotheca
Khaya anthotheca is a flowering plant in the family of the mahogany family ( Meliaceae ). Their natural habitat is in tropical Africa. The wood is traded and versatile.
- 5.1 Notes and references
Description
Appearance and foliage leaf
Khaya anthotheca grows as a large, evergreen tree reaching heights of growth of up to 60 meters. The richly branched tree crown is oblong or roundish. An old specimens buttress roots are present. The bark of young branches is grayish - brown and smooth, mottled gray and brown on old branches and trunks and smooth to sometimes scaly.
The alternate and spirally arranged on the branches leaves are stalked. The 15 to 30 centimeters long leaf blades are imparipinnate with three to seven leaflets. The smooth, glossy dark - green leaflets have pointed to rounded and slightly asymmetrical base and a smooth edge. The leaf veins are clearly visible on the underside of the leaflets.
Inflorescence and flower
Khaya anthotheca is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). The flowering period extends from September to December. In the branch ends pendent, branched inflorescences are many flowers together. The sweetly fragrant, white, unisexual flowers are four to fünfzählig and have a diameter of up to 1 centimeter. The stamens are fused to an up to 6 mm long tube.
Fruit and seeds
The egg-shaped with a diameter of up to 6 inches, hard, woody fruit capsule opens with four or five doors. The seeds are winged all around membranous. The fruits ripen from March to September.
Occurrence
The natural range of Khaya anthotheca lies in tropical Africa: Uganda, Cameroon, Zaire, Ivory Coast, Ghana, southeastern Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Khaya anthotheca is a neophyte in South Africa. In South Africa, this kind thrives on medium to low altitudes in evergreen forests and gallery forests. In Tanzania, it thrives mostly in the foothills of mountain ranges in well-drained soils, in swamps and along streams.
Khaya anthotheca has been used successfully in the eastern part of South Africa, Cuba and Puerto Rico as a forest plant.
In the IUCN Red List Khaya anthotheca is classified as endangered vulnerable =. As one of the suppliers for African mahogany Khaya anthotheca is particularly difficult exploited in parts of East and West Africa. The regeneration of natural habitats is low, especially if the fruit-bearing tree copies rare and it comes to a shortage of genetic diversity.
Name
Common names include Red Mahogany as well as some other types, Nyanja: mbawa, mlulu; in Zimbabwe Mubarwa, Mururu, Muwawa; East African mahogany, Nyasaland mahogany, red mahogany ( Eng.); Oos- Afrikaanse mahonie ( Afr. ); Acaujo (Fr.), African Mahogany, White Mahogany ( Eng.); Cashew Blanc, cashew D' Afrique ( Fr ).
Taxonomy
The first description of this kind took place in 1859 under the name Garretia anthotheca by Friedrich Martin Josef Welwitsch in Apontamentos Phytogeographicos 1858, p 587 The type locality is Mont de Queta, Golungo Alto in Angolo. The type material has the Herbarnummer Welwitsch 1314. She was commissioned by Anne Casimir Pyramus de Candolle in Monographiae Phanerogamarum, 1, p 721 in the genus Khaya 1878. Another synonym for Khaya anthotheca ( Welw. ) C.DC. Khaya is nyasica Stapf ex Baker f. anthotheca The specific epithet is derived from the Greek words anthos for flower and counter together.
Swell
- Alec Naidoo: datasheet Khaya anthotheca, 2007 Plantzafrica. ( Description section )
- Entry in the Flora of Zimbabwe. ( Description section )