Muntingia calabura

Muntingia calabura
	Muntingia calabura
Systematics
	Rosids
	Eurosiden II
Order :	Mallow-like (Malvales)
Family :	Muntingiaceae
Genre :	Muntingia
Type :	Muntingia calabura
Scientific name of the genus
	Muntingia
	L.
Scientific name of the species
	Muntingia calabura
	L.

illustration

Muntingia calabura is a tree in the Muntingiaceae family from Central America , the Caribbean, and northwestern South America . The species was also introduced to Southeast Asia and India. It is the only species in the genus Muntingia .

description

Muntingia calabura grows as an evergreen tree with a short trunk to a height of around 12 meters. The trunk diameter reaches about 20 centimeters. The branches are short, soft and hairy whitish.

The simple, short-stalked and slightly leathery leaves are alternate. The short and short-haired petiole is about 5–6 millimeters long. The ovate, lanceolate leaves are rounded to pointed or pointed, with a serrate to serrated edge and a rounded to slightly heart-shaped base. They are up to 14 centimeters long and up to 4 centimeters wide and (initially) soft on the underside, densely white-grayish hairy, later balding. The leaf blade is often slightly uneven. The nerve is threefold to palmate and raised on the underside. There are small, linear stipules .

The flowers appear over-axillary, i.e. between the leaf nodes, often individually or in tufts up to five. The hermaphroditic, stalked and usually five-fold, unpleasant-smelling flowers with a double flower envelope are greenish-white. The short hairy flower stalk is up to 2 centimeters long. The short-haired, narrow-triangular, fleshy sepals are awn-pointed and without the more or less long awn up to 7–8 millimeters long. The 7–11 millimeters long and obovate, slightly wrinkled petals are nailed short . There are many (up to 100; but the number can vary greatly) free and protruding stamens . The bald, egg-shaped and fünfkammerige ovary is upper constant with very short, thick pen and lobed, large, star-shaped scar . The short-stalked ovary is surrounded by a velvety "disc-like" ring wall, but there are nectaries at the base of the stamen. Within each flower cluster of Muntingia calabura , the first open flower has a well-developed gynoeceum and fewer stamens (up to 25), the stamens that open subsequently have increasing numbers of stamens (up to 100) and the pistil is then proportionally reduced.

Small, round, about 1.2-1.5 centimeters in size and smooth, red, many-seeded, thin-skinned fruits, berries with sometimes calyx and stamen remains at the base and scar remains at the top are formed. The several thousand (5000) tiny, brownish and egg-shaped seeds are up to about 0.5-0.7 millimeters in size.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 28 or 30.

Initially densely hairy undersides of the leaf
blossom
Ripe and unripe fruit
fruit
Pulp and seeds

use

The very sweet and juicy fruits are edible. They are used raw or cooked.

Tea is made from the leaves.

A fiber can be extracted from the bark.

The light and soft wood is used for interior applications or for paper production as well as kindling.

literature

K. Kubitzki , C. Bayer: The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. V: Flowering Plants Dicotyledons , Springer, 2003, ISBN 978-3-642-07680-0 , p. 316 f.
Thomas B. Croat: Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford Univ. Press, 1978, ISBN 0-8047-0950-5 , p. 572.
TK Lim: Edible Medicinal And Non Medicinal Plants. Volume 3: Fruits , Springer, 2012, ISBN 978-94-007-2533-1 , pp. 486-492.
Jules Janick, Robert E. Paull: The Encyclopedia of Fruit and Nuts. CABI, 2008, ISBN 978-0-85199-638-7 , p. 346 ff.

Web links

Commons : Muntingia calabura - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Muntingia calabura at Useful Tropical Plants.
Muntingia calabura at PROTA.
Muntingia calabura B. Verdcourt: Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2001, p. 114, at JSTOR Global Plants.

Individual evidence

↑ Bárbara C. Muñoz García, Jorge A. Sánchez Rendón, Laura A. Montejo Valdés and others. a .: Guía técnica para la reproducción de especies arbóreas pioneras. Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática, 2012, ISBN 978-959-300-025-3 , pp. 10-13, online at researchgate.net.

[1] Bárbara C. Muñoz García, Jorge A. Sánchez Rendón, Laura A. Montejo Valdés and others. a .: Guía técnica para la reproducción de especies arbóreas pioneras. Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática, 2012, ISBN 978-959-300-025-3 , pp. 10-13, online at researchgate.net.