Triplochiton scleroxylon

The Triplochiton scleroxylon is the only species of the genus Triplochiton from the mallow family ( Malvaceae ). It is native to Africa. Obeche example, in the German-speaking area of the common commercial name of the wood; Trade name of the timber, for example, Samba, obeche, African whitewood or ayous.

• 2.1 Description of the wood
• 2.2 Use of wood

• 6.1 Notes and references

Description

Appearance and leaf

Triplochiton scleroxylon is a fast-growing, evergreen or mostly deciduous large tree. He usually reaches stature heights of 45, sometimes 50 meters and trunk diameter of usually about 1.5 meters. The exceptionally straight and cylindrical, often edged stem is usually in older specimens up to a height of up to 30 meters free from knots and has strong buttress roots that extend to a stem height of about 8 meters. The ash-gray or yellowish - brown, 7 to 30 mm thick bark is initially smooth and later scaly and cracked; it often has vertical lines of lenticels. Young trees have a cylindrical crown and leafy almost to the base. Later, the trees have a high, dense, round crown with a short spreading branches, the flat top end with old trees.

The alternate arranged on the branches of deciduous leaves are often 1.5 to mostly 3-10 cm long stalks. The simple leaf blade is at a length and width of 10 to 20 cm palmately lobed with five to seven lobes with sweetheart as well as five -to seven- annoying Spreitenbasis; they are often lobed larger and deeper to young trees. The egg-shaped, triangular or oblong lobes have a rounded, blunt to pointed top end. The leaf surfaces have initially brown star hair, but will soon be bare. The 2-4 cm long stipules fall off early and leave an annular blade tracking.

Inflorescence and flower

The main flowering time is in the dry season. The first flowers trees develop until the age of 15 to 20 years. The lateral or terminal, dichotomously branched, paniculate zymöse inflorescence is 4-10 cm long with a densely hairy inflorescence axis. The 3-5 mm long gestation and bracts are early transient. The 4 to 5 mm long flower stems are hairy golden tomentose at the herbarium.

The cup-shaped, hermaphroditic flowers are radial symmetry and fünfzählig double perianth. The triangular with a length of about 7 mm sepals are fused to one third of their length and have brown hair star. The densely silky hairy, white and red at their base - purple petals are broadly obovate, with a length and width of about 1 cm. The 30 to 46 equal-length stamens are fused in pairs at their base. The carpels are surrounded by five kronblattartigen staminodes. There are five free carpels present. The five pens are fused. The hairy Androgynophor is 3 to 3.5 mm long. It is cross-pollination is required.

Fruit

The brown to reddish - brown schizocarp decomposes at maturity in one to five part fruit. Winged, more or less intense partial soft hairy fruits are more or less rhomboidal, with a length of about 2 cm and a width of about 1 cm. The blades are elongated egg-shaped with a thickened edge with a length of 4 to 6 cm and a width of 1.2 to 2 cm.

Wood

Description of the wood

The heartwood is white to light yellow and sharply demarcated from up to 15 cm thick sapwood. Freshly cut, damp wood has an unpleasant odor, which disappears on drying. The light wood is easy to work with. Sawdust can cause allergies. The wood is not durable because it is infested with termites, beetles and fungi.

Use of wood

The timber is used, for example, strips, wooden profiles, models, prostheses and organ pipes. It is used for lightweight components in the body and sauna construction, further packaging. It is produced veneer.

Occurrence

Triplochiton scleroxylon is south of the Sahel from Senegal widespread in tropical evergreen and semi- evergreen rain forest to Angola. The main deposits are in tropical West Africa in the Ivory Coast (where "Samba "), and Ghana ( " Wawa " ), Nigeria ( " obeche " ) and Cameroon ( " ayous " ), the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.

Ecology

The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN ) does not recommend the use of this wood. To a 2007 report, the degradation of Obeche from the Central African basin is mainly due to a planned exploitation and extraction of valuable trees. Through the roads built by the loggers also penetrate poachers in the previously untouched forests and hunt wild animals, which mainly Monkeys and antelopes have come to the brink of extinction. Unlike some other rainforest timbers Obeche is not available as FSC - certified.

According to Greenpeace, the use of Obeche is seen as particularly critical since this is not available with environmental certificate and comes with the greatest probability of forest destruction and overexploitation.

System

The first description of Triplochiton scleroxylon was made in 1900 by Karl Moritz Schumann in Botanical yearbooks for systematics, plant history and geography of plants, 28, p 330 The Typusprotolog is " Cameroon: Yaunde station, at 800 m - ZENKER and STAUDT AD 595 - buds in December 1894 - ZENKER AD 298 - Blooming in March 1890 ", this herbarium specimens were deposited in the herbarium at Berlin. It has been suggested that there is a Sterculia species. Schumann found that the deviations from Sterculia are so great that he set up the new genus Triplochiton and even wanted to set up a new family Triplochitonaceae.

The genus name is from the Greek words Triplochiton triplostichus derived for cover for three rows and chiton. The specific epithet is derived from the Greek words scleroxylon sclero - for hard and xylon for wood.

Triplochiton scleroxylon is the only species of the genus Triplochiton from the tribe Helictereae in the subfamily Helicteroideae within the family Malvaceae. Scleroxylon synonyms for Triplochiton K.Schum. are: Triplochiton nigericum Sprague, Samba scleroxylon ( K.Schum. ) Roberty. For some authors, there is also a second type Triplochiton zambesiacus Milne - Redh. in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Swell

• Triplochiton scleroxylon - samba, obeche, African whitewood Full Text PDF at World Agroforestry Database 4.0 ( Orwa et al 2009. ).
• Timbers 1, Volume 7 by D. Louppe, AA Oteng - Amoako & M. Brink (Editor): Plant resources of tropical Africa. . Prota Verlag, 2008 ISBN 9789057822094 Google -book online. PP Bosu: Triplochiton scleroxylon from page 565
• Protection of Forests - National carry responsibility and act globally - Page 29 (PDF file, 1.86 MB) at Federal Agency for Nature Conservation