Chytranthus obliquinervis Radlk. ex Engl.

Species

Angiosperms > Sapindales > Sapindaceae > Chytranthus

Characteristics

Dioecious or ?monoecious tree or suffrutex, 1.2–6(–15) m. tall, mostly unbranched with apical rosette-like crown of very large leaves; bark grey-brown, smooth or somewhat wrinkled.. Leaves drooping and purplish when young, with 7–12 pairs of leaflets; leaf-buds purplish; petiole 1–3 cm. long, ± woody, pubescent; rhachis 35–100 cm. long; petiolules swollen, ± 1 cm. long; leaflets opposite or alternate, elliptic, oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, (3–)5.5–45 cm.long, (1.5–)4–14 cm. wide, shortly acuminate at the apex, rounded to cuneate at the base, coriaceous, glabrous save for scattered long hairs on the venation beneath; midrib sunken on upper surface.. Inflorescences clusters of thyrses borne on the trunk and branches, pinkish green, 5–15 cm. long, the male and female possibly sometimes on the same plant; buds cream.. Calyx pale green velvety, somewhat 2-lipped, tube 3–4 mm. long, lobes very unequal, 2.5–4 mm. long.. Petals white or yellow-green, oblong, 4–5 mm. long, emarginate or lobed, scale 3.5 mm. long, bent forward but not hooded at the tip, bearing a short simple appendage, hairy at the junction with the petal limb.. Disk reniform, deeply lobed opposite the petals.. Stamens 8; filaments and anthers pilose.. Ovary 3-lobed, 3-locular.. Mature fruit unknown but very young ones are velvety tomentose and with longer white hairs as well.
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A small tree. It grows 15 m tall. The trunk has few branches but then a crown of very large leaves. The bark is grey to brown and smooth. The leaves have an odd number of leaflets. There are 7-12 pairs. The leaf stalk is 35-100 cm long. The lower leaflets are small and about 2 cm long while the upper leaflets can be 45 cm long. The flowers are on clusters on the trunk. They are 5-15 cm long. They are white to a yellow green. The fruit is fleshy and has 3 lobes. It is softly hairy when young.
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Growth form tree
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Sexuality dioecy
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Mature height (meter) 4.0 - 6.0
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Environment

It is a tropical plant. It grows in lowland forest. It can be on sand or coral and along rivers. It grows from sea level to 900 m above sea level.
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Lowland evergreen forest on sand and coral, evergreen rainforest or moist riverine forest, at elevations from sea level to 900 metres.
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Usage

The ripe fruit are collected and eaten raw as a snack.
Uses charcoal food fuel material wood
Edible fruits
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Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seed.
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Distribution

Chytranthus obliquinervis world distribution map, present in Kenya and Tanzania, United Republic of

Conservation status

Chytranthus obliquinervis threat status: Vulnerable

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:782291-1
WFO ID wfo-0000604312
COL ID V4NH
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Chytranthus obliquinervis