Afrocanthium burttii

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Afrocanthium burttii
Systematics
Order : Enzianartige (Gentianales)
Family : Red family (Rubiaceae)
Subfamily : Ixoroideae
Tribe : Vanguerieae
Genre : Afrocanthium
Type : Afrocanthium burttii
Scientific name
Afrocanthium burttii
( Bullock ) Lantz

Afrocanthium burttii (Syn .: Canthium burttii ) is a species of plant in the red family from the Congo , Tanzania , Botswana and Zambia .

description

Afrocanthium burttii grows as a deciduous shrub or small tree up to 6–7 meters high.

The simple, short-stalked, paper leaves are opposite and usually arranged at the branch ends. They are entire, egg-shaped or trowel-shaped to elliptical, acuminate to pointed and more or less hairy to bald and up to about 8-10 centimeters long and up to 6-8 centimeters wide. Small stipules are often present.

Terminal or axillary, small and zymous inflorescences are formed. The short-stalked, yellowish-green and very small, hermaphrodite flowers are usually five-fold with a double flower envelope . The more or less hairy calyx is very small, with lobes reduced to a ring. The outside bald, inside more or less hairy crown is fused in a short corolla tube, with triangular, flabby and spreading tips. There are very short stamens , at the top of the short corolla tube. The two-chamber under constant ovary has a sleek style with capitate and zweilappiger scar . There is a bare discus .

Up to 1–1.5 centimeters in size, roundish, slightly two-part, orange-yellowish to brownish, almost bald drupes with one or mostly two egg-shaped, slightly wrinkled, thin-shelled and hard stone cores are formed.

Systematics

One can distinguish between two subspecies:

  • Afrocanthium burttii subsp. burttii : It occurs from Tanzania to Botswana.
  • Afrocanthium burttii subsp. glabrum (Bridson) Govaerts : It occurs from southwestern Tanzania to Zambia.

use

The slightly acidic fruits are edible.

literature

  • Food and food-bearing forest species. 1: Examples from Eastern Africa , FAO Forestry Paper 44/1, FAO, 1983, ISBN 92-5-101385-3 , pp. 27-30, online (PDF; 8.3 MB).
  • Diane M. Bridson: The Genus Canthium (Rubiaceae: Vanguerieae) in Tropical Africa. In: Kew Bulletin. Vol. 47, no. 3, 1992, pp. 353-401, doi: 10.2307 / 4110569 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Afrocanthium burttii at KEWScience (Description).
  2. ↑ a b c Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Afrocanthium burttii. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved June 2, 2020.