Turraea pulchella (Harms) T.D.Penn.

Species

Angiosperms > Sapindales > Meliaceae > Turraea

Characteristics

Suffrutex up to 0.2 m high with tufted herbaceous stems arising from a short (50 mm) branched, woody base, and with a strong, woody, possibly rhizomatous rootstock; branchlets, inflorescence axes and both leaf surfaces sparsely to densely setulose. Leaves up to 30 x 17 mm, obovate-deltate, deeply and bluntly toothed or shallowly lobed in upper half, base cuneate. Flowers axillary, solitary, or in lax, 2-3-flowered cymules; peduncle or pedicel 8-12 mm long; bracteoles linear, 2 mm long. Calyx 3-5 mm long, hispidulous, lobes foliaceous, oblong-lanceolate, free almost to the base. Petals white, minutely puberulous outside, 7-9 x 2-3 mm, oblanceolate-oblong, apex rounded, base slightly clawed. Staminal tube 5-7 mm long, split at apex for up to one fifth of its length, densely hairy in upper half inside; appendages paired, filiform, as long as anthers; anthers apiculate. Disc annular, shallowly lobed. Ovary densely hairy, 5-locular, with 2 collateral ovules per locule; style 5 mm long, densely hairy; style-head capitate, less than 1 mm in diameter, with 5 stigmatic lobes at apex. Capsule 5-valved and ±6-seeded, leathery or thinly woody, 4.5 x 6-7 mm, depressed-globose, shallowly sulcate, densely puberulous. Seeds 3 x 2 mm, very strongly curved, dark brown; aril consisting of a small, whitish, slightly fleshy lobe on each side of the hilum, covering in toto about on tenth of the seed.
More
Suffrutex, ± 0.2 m high; stems tufted, herbaceous, arising from strong, woody rootstock. Leaves simple, obovate-deltate, deeply toothed in upper half, up to 30 mm long, base cuneate. Flowers solitary or in 2-or 3-flowered axillary cymules. Petals oblanceolate-oblong, white. Staminal tube split at apex. Ovary 5-locular, style densely hairy, 5 mm long with capitate style head (a distally dilated part of style, of which proximal part functions as a receptacle for pollen and distal part as a stigmatic surface). Flowering time Sept.-Mar. Fruit a 5-valved capsule, ± 6-seeded, thinly woody. Seeds strongly curved, dark brown; aril a small, whitish, slightly fleshy lobe, covering ± one tenth of seed.
The filaments are free for a short distance at the apex, and each bears a pair of filiform appendages inserted one on either side at the base of the anthers. In most other African species the filaments are completely fused and the appendages occur in pairs on the rim of the tube alternating with the anthers.
Life form -
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.2
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 -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-11

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

Turraea pulchella world distribution map, present in South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:579826-1
WFO ID wfo-0001083551
COL ID 7CZ9W
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Turraea pulchella Nurmonia pulchella