Bombax costatum
| Bombax costatum | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Red kapok tree ( Bombax costatum ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Bombax costatum | ||||||||||||
| Pellegr. & Vuillet |
The plant Bombax costatum , and Red Kapok tree called, belongs to the subfamily of Bombacoideae in the family of mallow (Malvaceae). It often occurs on rocky locations in the West African savannas and dry forests from Senegal to Cameroon .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Bombax costatum grows as a deciduous tree that reaches heights of up to 15-25 meters and in the Sahel zone hardly more than 6 meters. The relatively slender, high trunk is protected by a thick, corky, gray-brown and fire-retardant bark , with corked spikes in younger specimens. The tree sometimes forms buttress roots .
The alternate, 8 to 15 centimeters long leaves on the branches are divided into a long petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf blade is finger-shaped. The five to eight obovate and glabrous leaflets have short stalk and entire margins. The lighter nerve is pinnate with eight to ten pairs of lateral nerves. The leaves are rounded to edged or pointed to pointed. The stipules fall off early.
Generative characteristics
The hermaphroditic and large flowers, which stand individually on long, smooth peduncles, appear in front of the leaves. The flower has a double perianth (Perianth), a length of 5 to 7 centimeters and a diameter of 4 to 7 centimeters. The small, reddish and cup-shaped, trimmed and weakly five-lobed and externally bald calyx is fleshy. The bright red, orange or yellow, rounded, elongated petals are fused at the base. There are very many (up to over 150), bundled stamens and an upper, five-chamber ovary with a long stylus and divided, small stigma .
The 6 to 16 centimeters long, dark brown, ellipsoidal capsule fruit with a diameter of 3 to 6 centimeters opens loculicidal at five longitudinal slits and releases some small, about 5 to 6 millimeters large, blackish and egg to pear-shaped seeds with their characteristic white seed hairs ( "Red" or "wrong" kapok ).
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 72.
Systematics
It was first described in 1914 by François Pellegrin and Jean François Vuillet in Notulae systematicae (Paris) 3: 88. Synonyms are Bombax andrieui Pellegr. & Vuillet and Bombax houardii Pellegr. & Vuillet .
use
The sepals are used in West Africa to prepare sauces. Since whole branches are often cut off during harvest, this species is declining in many places. The fibers of the fruit are used in a similar way to kapok.
literature
- J. Berhaut : Flore Illustrée du Sénégal. Volume 2, Dakar 1974.
- M. Arbonnier: Arbres, arbustes et lianes des zones sèches d'Afrique de l'Ouest. CIRAD, Montpellier 2000, ISBN 2-87614-431-X .
- Agroforestry Tree Database .
- M. Brink, EG Achigan-Dako: Fibers. Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 16, Prota, 2012, ISBN 978-92-9081-481-8 , pp. 59-62.
Web links
- Bombax costatum . In: U. Brunken, M. Schmidt, S. Dressler, T. Janssen, A. Thiombiano, G. Zizka: West African plants - A Photo Guide. Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main 2008.
- Distribution of Bombax costatum on GBIF.
- Bombax costatum at Useful Tropical Plants, accessed May 10, 2018.