American cow tree
| American cow tree | ||||||||||||
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American cow tree ( Brosimum utile ) |
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| Brosimum utile | ||||||||||||
| ( Kunth ) Oken |
The American cow tree ( Brosimum utile ), also called milky nut fig cow's milk tree , cow tree or mostly milk tree, is a plant species from the nut fig genus ( Brosimum ) within the mulberry family (Moraceae). Its subspecies are native to the tropics from Central America to northern South America.
description
The cow's milk tree grows as an evergreen tree that usually reaches heights of 20 to 45 meters and a trunk diameter (at the base) of 40 to 50 centimeters. The simple trunk is upright. The cow tree can reach an age of around 200 years. The thick bark is grayish and smooth or warty. The cow's milk tree contains milky sap .
The alternate leaves are arranged in a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf stalk is 0.5 to 1.5, rarely up to 2.5 centimeters long. The simple, leathery, entire and almost bald leaf blade is up to 56 centimeters long and up to 18 centimeters wide on young specimens and 7 to 25 centimeters long and 4 to 14 centimeters wide on adult specimens egg-shaped to elliptical, oblong or obovate, -eilance-shaped with a pointed to almost wedge-shaped base and a rounded or pointed to pointed upper end. There is pinnate nerve with mostly 12 to 28, rarely up to 36 lateral nerves converging intramarginally. The falling stipules are 1 to 4.5 inches long and fused.
Brosimum utile is single sexed ( monoecious ); in an inflorescence there are male and a few, usually one, female flowers, as well as small bracts . The 6 to 8 millimeter long, spherical inflorescence is located on a 0.5 to 1, rarely up to 1.5 centimeter long inflorescence stem. The male flowers have one or two stamens .
Roundish, solitary, about 2.5–3 centimeters in size, blackish, scabby and green-reddish-brown fruit associations are formed.
distribution
The cow's milk tree thrives in rainforests . The subspecies of Brosimum utile occur in Central America and in northern South America . The cow's milk tree is cultivated in tropical South and Southeast Asia .
Systematics
It was first described in 1825 under the name ( Basionym ) Galactodendrum utile by Karl Sigismund Kunth in Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt et al .: Nova Genera et Species Plantarum , 4th edition, volume 7, p. 163; ed. folio 7, p. 125. The new combination for Brosimum utile (Kunth) Oken was made in 1841 by Lorenz Oken in Allgemeine Naturgeschichte , 3, 3, p. 1571, there printed “Brosimum atile”. Two homonyms have been published: 1846 Brosimum utile (Kunth) Oken ex J. Presl by Lorenz Oken in Jan Svatopluk Presl in: Waobecný Rostlinopsis , 2, p. 1379 and 1918 by Henri François Pittier in Contributions from the United States National Herbarium , 20, S. 102. Other synonyms for Brosimum utile (Kunth) Oken are: Alicastrum utile (Kunth) Kuntze , Piratinera utilis (Kunth) Baill. , Brosimum galactodendron D. Don ex Sweet .
From Brosimum utile there are several subspecies (selection):
- Brosimum utile subsp. allenii (Woodson) CCBerg (Syn .: Brosimum allenii Woodson ): This endemic occurs in Costa Rica only in Puntarenas.
- Brosimum utile subsp. darienense C.C. Berg : It only occurs in Panama .
- Brosimum utile subsp. magdalenense C.C. Berg : It only occurs in Colombia .
- Brosimum utile subsp. occidentale C.C. Berg : It occurs only in western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador .
- Brosimum utile subsp. ovatifolium (Ducke) CCBerg (Syn .: Brosimum ovatifolium Ducke ): It is distributed in French Guiana , Guyana , Venezuela , Brazil (only in the states of Amazonas , Mato Grosso , Pará ), Bolivia , Colombia, Ecuador and Peru .
- Brosimum utile subsp. utile : It occurs from Panama to northern Venezuela and northern Colombia.
use
The milky sap of the cow's milk tree is drinkable and its taste is reminiscent of cow's milk , which is where the common names of this plant species go back. The fleshy fruits with their nutritious seeds are cooked and eaten salted. The milky juice contains substances similar to wax and is used to make candles .
In the past, the bark juice was used to make chewing gum . In regional naturopathy , the juice is used to treat stomach problems . The relatively light and soft, not particularly durable wood of the milk tree is used to make furniture and other things.
literature
- Cornelis Christiaan Berg : Moraceae , pp. 11-12. In: Flora Mesoamericana , Volume 2, 2, 2012. PDF .
- James A. Duke: Handbook of Nuts. CRC Press, 1989, 2001, ISBN 0-8493-3637-6 , pp. 53 f.
Web links
- Brosimum utile at NYBG.
- Brosimum utile at Useful Tropical Plants.
- Article Kuhbaum on Wissen.de.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Oken1841 scanned at biodiversitylibrary.org .
- ^ A b c Peter Hanelt: Mansfeld's Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops. Springer, 2001, ISBN 978-3-540-41017-1 , pp. 362 ( Brosimum utile in Google Book Search).
- ↑ Entry Kuhbaum in Duden
- ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, p. 68, online.
- ↑ a b c CC Berg: Moraceae , pp. 11-12. In: Flora Mesoamericana , Volume 2, 2, 2012. Full text PDF.
- ↑ a b c Pittier scanned in 1918 at biodiversitylibrary.org .
- ^ Brosimum utile at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed November 30, 2014.
- ^ Brosimum utile at Tropicos.org. In: Flora Mesoamericana . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ a b Brosimum utile in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved May 28, 2014.