WorldFloraDB - Heteromorpha arborescens

Characteristics

Well branched woody shrub or tree (1.5-)3-9(-15) m high, rarely a facultative climber. Trunk diameter 5-25 cm. Stems well branched (branching limited in var. frutescens), terete, smooth, glabrous to pilose. Pith variable in thickness. Bark well developed, peeling in horizontal bands, translucent for several years, somewhat waxy. Newly exposed bark smooth and shiny, reddish or yellowish brown, becoming dull black or grey with age. Leaves with a maximum length of 1-18(-20) cm, including petiole (0.3-)0.5-5(-8) cm long, semiterete, sometimes terete, glabrous to pilose, then more so in groove, base amplexicaul, rarely non-amplexicaul; outline variable, even on a single stem, simple or trisect to pinnately and/or pedately compound, or bipinnatifid (typically pinnate with 5 pinnae). Incision sometimes decursive, terminal leaflet often distinctly petiolulate. Pinnae narrowly to widely elliptic, narrowly ovate, ovate, obovate or trullate, sometimes falcate, up to 1-8 x 0.5-3 cm; apex emarginate to acuminate, mucronate to apiculate; margins entire or somewhat crenulate, sometimes ciliolate; base acuminate or attenuate to rounded or obtuse; adaxial midrib with short, unicellular, cylindrical trichomes, rarely glabrous. Inflorescence a single compound umbel or a panicle of few to more than 40 compound umbels, inflorescence leaves rarely reduced in size (in var. frutescens); main florescence of (4-)10-23(-32) rays, 1.1-2.4(-3.7) cm long, (4-)11-21(-28) raylets, 1.5-3.5(-8) mm long. Involucral bracts mostly small, narrowly ovate, interspersed with up to 2 larger foliose, elliptic bracts. Petals cream-coloured to greenish yellow, higher than, or as high as broad. Stylopodium sometimes sparsely pilose at the rim, or at the bases of styles. Fruit glabrous or pilose, elliptic to obovoid or obpyriform, 3-9x 1.5-4 mm; vittae solitary [and conspicuous] in the valleculae, two on the commissure.

More

Shrub, 0.8-1.9 m high, or small tree, 2-5 m high, or woody liana. Leaves simple or trifoliolate to pinnately and/or pedately compound with up to 7 leaflets; leaflets elliptic-lanceolate to ovate or obovate, entire to crenate. Flowers in bracteate compound umbels, greenish white. Flowering time Dec.-Mar. (‘Valley Thicket/Scarp Forest form’ flowers sporadically all year with a peak in Oct.). Fruit outline elliptic to somewhat obpyriform, slightly winged; mericarps of 2 forms, one 2-winged, the other 3-winged, mostly flattened, with prominent ribs; vittae 6, with 2 on face and 4 around each seed; carpophore bipartite.

Shrub or small tree, 2-9 m, bark smooth, reddish, peeling in waxy flakes. Leaves palmately or pinnately 1-3(-9)-foliolate, leaflets elliptic-lanceolate, crenulate. Flowers in compound umbels, greenish white. Fruit elliptic, mericarps isodiametric, heteromorphic, one with 2 marginal and 1 median wing, other with only 2 lateral wings, sometimes pilose, vittae present, rib oil ducts inconspicuous.

Shrub or small tree, 2-9 m tall, with reddish or translucent, peeling bark. Leaves palmately or pinnately 1-3(-9)-foliolate, leaflets elliptic-lanceolate, crenulate. Flowers greenish white. Fruit elliptic, mericarps isodiametric, heteromorphic, one with 2 marginal and 1 median wing, the other with only 2 lateral wings, sometimes pilose, vittae present, rib oil ducts inconspicuous.

The form described from the Cape Province of South Africa has all the leaves simple and entire.. Forms with most upper leaves entire are not infrequent in N. Kenya and Uganda.

Life form	perennial
Growth form	shrub
Growth support	free-standing
Foliage retention	evergreen
Sexuality	hermaphrodite
Pollination	-
Spread	-
Mature width (meter)	-
Mature height (meter)	2.25 - 7.5
Root system	-
Rooting depth (meter)	-
Root diameter (meter)	-
Flower color
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Fruit color	-
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Nitrogen fixer	-
Photosynthetic pathway	-

Environment

In montane and riverine woodland, in forest margins and in secondary regrowth.

Light	-
Soil humidity	-
Soil texture
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Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

Uses	environmental use food material medicinal timber wood
Edible	-
Therapeutic use	Colic (unspecified)
Human toxicity	-
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.

Mode	cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days)	-
Germination temperacture (C°)	-
Germination luminosity	-
Germination treatment	-
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Optimum temperature (C°)	-
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-