Harpephyllum caffrum
| Harpephyllum caffrum | ||||||||||||
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Harpephyllum caffrum |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Harpephyllum | ||||||||||||
| Bernh. ex C. Krauss | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Harpephyllum caffrum | ||||||||||||
| Bernh. ex C. Krauss |
Harpephyllum caffrum is a tree in the sumac family from South East Africa , Mozambique , Zimbabwe, and South Africa . It is the only species in the genus Harpephyllum .
description
Harpephyllum caffrum grows as an evergreen , often multi-stemmed tree up to about 15 meters high. The trunk diameter reaches 60-75 centimeters. The brown-grayish bark is thick and cracked with age.
The alternate and stalked leaves at the branch ends are pinnate unpaired with up to 17 leaflets . The rachis is short-winged. The petiole is up to 5–10 centimeters long, the leaves are up to about 30 centimeters long with a petiole. The entire, leathery and bare, almost sedentary leaves are up to 10 centimeters long and 2.5 centimeters wide. They are ovate to elliptical, lanceolate, less often obovate and pointed to acuminate. The leaflet width is often uneven and slightly sickle-shaped. The leaflets are reddish before the leaves are shed or changed. The stipules are missing.
Harpephyllum caffrum is dioecious dioecious . Terminal, long, glabrous and multi-flowered, paniculate inflorescences are formed. The green-yellowish or -white and short-stalked, functionally unisexual, very small flowers are 4–5-fold with a double flower envelope . The minimal sepals are about 1 millimeter long. The spreading to laid back, egg-shaped petals are up to 3 millimeters long. The male flowers have up to 8–10 short, free stamens and a reduced pestle, the female very short staminodes and an upper ovary with short, free pistils with small, heady scars . There is one notched, bald and slightly cup-shaped disc in each case.
Small, reddish, egg-shaped to ellipsoidal, smooth, multi-seeded and about 2.5–3 centimeters large drupes are formed. The woody, brownish, egg-shaped to ellipsoidal and multi-chambered, large stone core has small germ covers (operculum).
use
The sour fruits are edible and are used raw or cooked.
The bark and roots are used medicinally.
The less durable, slightly reddish and quite hard wood is used for various applications.
literature
- K. Kubitzki : The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. X: Flowering Plants Eudicots , Springer, 2011, ISBN 978-3-642-14396-0 , p. 41.
- James Cullen, Sabina G. Knees, H. Suzanne Cubey: The European Garden Flora. Second Edition, Vol. III, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-521-76155-0 , p. 532.
- Ernst Schmidt, Mervyn Lotter, Warren McCleland: Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park. Jacana, 2002, ISBN 1-919777-30-X , pp. 26, 298 f.
Web links
- Harpephyllum caffrum at Useful Tropical Plants.
- Harpephyllum caffrum at Tree SA.