Pentadesma butyraceum

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Pentadesma butyraceum
Systematics
Eurosiden I
Order : Malpighiales (Malpighiales)
Family : Clusiaceae
Subfamily : Clusioideae
Genre : Pentadesma
Type : Pentadesma butyraceum
Scientific name
Pentadesma butyraceum
Sabine

Pentadesma butyracea , also known as African butter tree or African sebum tree, Kanya, is a West African tree from the Clusiaceae family. It occurs in West Africa from Senegal , Guinea , Mali to Cameroon , Congo and to Tanzania and Uganda .

description

Pentadesma butyraceum grows as a large, evergreen tree that can reach a height of 35 meters. The trunk diameter can be up to 150 centimeters. Sometimes buttress roots or aerial roots are formed. The brownish bark is slightly rough and scaly. The tree has a yellow milky sap . In younger trees, the branches protrude at an oblique angle from the top.

The opposite and stalked, leathery, glabrous and shiny leaves appear in terminal clusters on the branches. They are up to 25 centimeters long and elliptical to lanceolate or obovate, the edges are whole, the tip is rounded or rounded to pointed or indented. The upper side of the leaves is dark green, the underside is light green, the young leaves are reddish. The nerve is pinnate with a light green central vein and many fine lateral nerves, there are glandular canals and spots. Stipules are missing.

Terminal thyrses with up to seven flowers are formed. The hermaphroditic flowers with a double flower envelope are five-fold and stalked. They are yellowish-greenish, reddish, they give off a strong smell of rancid butter. The free, egg-shaped and uneven, leathery sepals are up to 5 inches long. The up to 6 centimeters long petals are ovate. There are many stamens up to 6.5 centimeters long with elongated anthers and some staminodes in five bundles. The fünfkammerige ovary with many ovules is upper constant with a pen with multi-part scar . There are five large, brownish nectar glands .

Up to 15 centimeters in size, finely fielded, orange-brownish and ellipsoidal to egg-shaped, short-tipped berries are formed. The calyx, the stamens and nectar glands as well as scar remnants are adherent. There are up to 15 seeds in a yellowish pulp. The irregular seeds are up to 3–4 centimeters in size and ovoid or round to ellipsoidal, sometimes flattened or angular and brownish. You have a small aril .

The flowers are pollinated by bats , but also by bees and birds .

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 38.

Taxonomy

The first description was in 1824 by Joseph Sabine in Trans. Hort. Soc. London 5: 457. Synonyms are Pentadesma kerstingii Engl. Ex Volkens , Pentadesma leptonema Pierre , Pentadesma leucantha A. Chev. , Pentadesma nigritana Baker f. , Pentadesma parviflora Exell , Pentadesma gabonensis Pierre ex A.Chev. and Pentadesma leptonema var. klainei Pierre ex A. Chev.

use

A fat can be obtained from the seeds , kanyabutter, it is similar to shea butter . The fruits and the cooked leaves are edible.

The roots and young twigs are used as chew sticks.

The wood is hard and heavy, but only moderately resistant. It can be used for many applications such as masts, railroad ties, shipbuilding, and others.

literature

  • B. Sama, M. Sacandé, L. Schmidt: Pentadesma butyracea. In: Seed Leaflet. 131, 2007, online (PDF), at Københavns Universitet, accessed on November 5, 2018.
  • HAM van der Vossen, GS Mkamilo: Plant resources of tropical Africa. 14: Vegetable oils , PROTA, 2007, ISBN 978-90-5782-191-2 , p. 135 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b O. Hardy, AC Ley et al .: Reproductive biology of Pentadesma butyracea (Clusiaceae), source of a valuable non timber forest product in Benin. In: Plant Ecology and Evolution. 148 (2), 2015, pp. 213-228, doi: 10.5091 / plecevo.2015.998 .
  2. ^ EJH Corner: The Seeds of Dicotyledons. Vol. 2, Illustrations, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1976, 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-20687-7 , pp. 105 ff.
  3. ^ Klaus Kubitzki : The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. IX, Springer, 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-32214-6 , p. 53.