Detarium macrocarpum
| Detarium macrocarpum | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Detarium macrocarpum | ||||||||||||
| Harms |
Detarium macrocarpum is a species of the genus Detarium in the subfamily of the carob family (Caesalpinioideae) within the legume family (Fabaceae). It iswidespreadin West and Central Africa and is the largest species in its genus.
description
Appearance and bark
Detarium macrocarpum grows as a deciduous, medium-sized to very large tree that reaches heights of up to 60 meters and a trunk diameter of 150 to 200 centimeters. The trunk is usually straight and cylindrical and unbranched up to a height of 20 meters. They have small buttress roots or are slightly swollen at the base. The treetop is dome-shaped and the branches are bare.
The silver-gray to dark gray or grayish-brown bark is cracked and becomes scaly over time. The inner bark is fibrous and brown on the outside and pink on the inside.
The seedlings germinate epigeously , the hypocotyl is 6 to 14 inches long and the epicotyl is 13 to 28 inches long. The cotyledons are thick, fleshy, and spoon-shaped. The primary leaves are arranged alternately with eight to ten leaflets.
leaf
The alternate leaves are arranged in a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf blade is pinnate or unpaired with 8 to 20 leaflets. The alternately arranged leaflets are ovate to elliptical, paper-like and glabrous, with a length of 4 to 8 centimeters and a width of 2 to 4.5 centimeters. They are long, pointed and slightly asymmetrical at the base of the leaf and are dotted with translucent glands. The leaflet stalk is 5 to 7 millimeters long. The stipules are tiny and fall off early.
Inflorescence and flower
The lateral total inflorescences are composed of about 8 centimeters long, bare and loosely seated, paniculate partial inflorescences. The flower stalk is 2 to 3 millimeters long.
The hermaphrodite flowers are slightly zygomorphic with a simple flower envelope . The four whitish sepals are egg-shaped to lance-shaped with a length of about 5 millimeters. They are bald on the outside and hairy on the inside, and one sepal is wider than the other three. There are no petals . The ten stamens are free and about 5 millimeters long. The only upper carpel is elliptical, densely hairy and 2 millimeters long. The stylus is about 3 millimeters long and curved.
Fruit and seeds
The olive-green, non-opening legumes are spherical to ovoid and stone fruit-like with a diameter of 7 to 8 or 10 centimeters . They are slightly flattened and smooth with a pale green and fibrous pulp and contain a seed. The legumes usually ripen in the dry season . The seeds are wrinkled and up to 6 centimeters in diameter.
ecology
The legumes are eaten by elephants , which cause the seeds to spread. Duckers eat the pulp and gorillas , chimpanzees , mandrills and pigs can crack the hard shell and get at the seeds.
Occurrence
The distribution area of Detarium macrocarpum extends from southeastern Nigeria through Cameroon , the Central African Republic , Equatorial Guinea and Gabon . There it grows in humid lowland rainforests on well- drained soils with mean annual rainfall of around 1400 mm. Some stocks are in protected areas, for example in Kamuku National Park , where it forms dominant stocks alongside Isoberlinia doka and Terminalia avicennioides .
use
Detarium macrocarpum supplies high-quality construction timber , which, however, is not used commercially due to the low stand density.
literature
- Quentin Meunier, Carl Moumbogou, Jean-Louis Doucet: Les arbres utiles du Gabon. Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux, 2015, ISBN 978-2-87016-134-0 , p. 136 f, limited preview in the Google book search.
- RHMJ Lemmens, D. Louppe, AA Oteng-Amoako: Timbers 2 . PROTA = Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 7 (2), 2012, ISBN 978-92-9081-495-5 , pp. 804 ( Detarium macrocarpum on pp. 283–285 in the Google book search).