Ochna barbosae N.Robson

Species

Angiosperms > Malpighiales > Ochnaceae > Ochna

Characteristics

A slender tree up to 8 m tall or a shrub with light brown, slightly rough bark, not flaking; branchlets with the epidermis peeling off in narrow membranous strips; lenticels many, scattered; woody ovoid galls often present. Leaves shed before flowering or shortly after, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, 3-5 cm long and 1.2-1.5 cm broad (in S. African material seen), apex rounded, base acute, margin indistinctly serrulate (appearing smooth), coriaceous, with distinct reticulate venation; petiole 1 mm; stipules intrapetiolar, fused, entire. Flowers scented, terminating short spurs, solitary; pedicels c. 4 mm long at anthesis, up to 1(-2) cm in fruit, erect, articulated at the base. Sepals about 9 mm long at anthesis, about 2 cm long and pink or red in fruit, enclosing young drupelets, spreading when fruit is ripe. Petals yellow, obovate-cuneate, c. 12 mm long and 8 mm broad. Stamens c. 50, filaments c. 2.5 mm; anthers 1.5 mm, biporose. Carpels 5, attached basally to receptacle; styles fused, terete, with free apical, recurved stigmatic tips or completely fused with stigma apically, discoid, 5-lobed. Drupelets oblong-globose, 1 cm long, black.
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Leaves petiolate; lamina 3–6·2 × 1–2·6 cm., elliptic-oblong to oblanceolate (rarely obovate), obtuse to rounded and sometimes mucronate at the apex, with margin usually bluntly serrulate to subentire, cuneate or rarely rounded at the base, subcoriaceous, with main and subsidiary lateral nerves almost equally prominent, forming almost a right angle with the midrib, and very densely reticulate tertiary venation slightly prominent on both sides; petiole (1·5) 2–4 mm. long, slender.
Shrub or small tree 0·5–3 m. high, occasionally galled, with bark smooth, brown to whitish; branches ascending, greenish-brown and ridged at first, becoming purplish-brown to whitish and ± ridged or terete, often peeling, with numerous small ± raised lenticels.
Sepals 5–9 mm. long in flower, elliptic to elliptic-oblong, rounded, becoming red, 14–18 mm. long, convex and accrescent in fruit, eventually spreading and navicular.
Flowers solitary, terminating short axillary shoots, scented; pedicels 0·8–2 cm. long in fruit, articulated at the base.
Stamens with anthers 1–1·5 mm. long, 3/4 as long as or equalling the filaments, straight, dehiscing by apical pores.
Carpels 5, with styles united almost to the apex but with ends spreading or recurved; stigmas slightly capitate.
Petals bright yellow, sometimes dark-veined, 9–13 × 5–8 mm., obovate to subcircular, unguiculate.
Drupelets 10–11 × 8–9 mm., flattened-ovoid-cylindric, inserted near the base; embryo straight.
Life form perennial
Growth form
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 6.5 - 5.5
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture 5-6
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

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

Distribution

Ochna barbosae world distribution map, present in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:606530-1
WFO ID wfo-0001087125
COL ID 48D2N
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Ochna barbosae