Common afro yellowwood
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Common Afro Yellowwood ( Afrocarpus falcatus ) |
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The Ordinary African yellow wood ( Afrocarpus falcatus ) is a plant from the genus of afrocarpus ( Afrocarpus ) in the family of podocarpaceae (Podocarpaceae). It is native to the afromontane forests of southern Africa .
description
Vegetative characteristics
The common afro yellowwood grows as an evergreen tree and reaches heights of usually 10 to 25, rarely up to 60 meters. The trunk of larger specimens is knotless up to a height of over 20 meters. Trunk diameters of up to 2 meters can be achieved. The bark of the trunk is brown-gray to purple-gray; on young tree specimens it is more or less smooth; on older specimens it jumps off in thin, rectangular to rounded scales.
The branches are round in cross section or - especially in younger specimens - square; the leaf bases of fallen leaves leave raised furrows on the branch. The terminal buds are about 1 millimeter in size. The outer bud scales are very slender triangular, 2 to 2.5 millimeters long and about 1 millimeter wide.
The leaves are arranged in a spiral; they are glossy dark green to yellow green. The leaves are twisted at the base, giving them a sickle-shaped appearance. With a length of mostly 2 to 4 (1 to 5) centimeters and a width of mostly 2 to 4 (1.2 to 6) millimeters, the leaves are narrow linear-lanceolate to linear-elliptical and end pointy to blunt. Young leaves are sometimes up to 12 centimeters long. The middle rib is slightly raised on the underside. There are approximately 14 to 20 ostomy ligaments on either side of the sheet .
Generative characteristics
Afrocarpus falcatus is dioeciously segregated ( diocesan ). Male cones sit almost sessile individually or in groups of two to four. The male cones are 5 to 13 millimeters long and about 3 millimeters wide and brownish. The pollen sacs are 0.6 to 0.7 millimeters long and 0.3 to 0.4 millimeters wide. The female cones are solitary; they are 7 to 27 millimeters long and 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters wide; only the outermost scale forms a seed. The shiny-green to gray-green seeds are round to obovate with a length of about 1.5 centimeters. The seeds are surrounded by a wax-coated aril , which when ripe turns light yellow to light reddish brown.
ecology
The resinous aril is edible; it serves as a food source for birds, monkeys and bats, among other things. The seeds only germinate after the fleshy aril is removed; apparently the aril contains substances which inhibit germination.
distribution
The common afro yellow wood is common in southern Africa . It occurs in coastal and montane forests from the Western Cape in South Africa in an easterly and northerly direction to Limpopo and southern Mozambique .
Systematics
It was first published in 1800 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg under the name ( Basionym ) Taxus falcata in Prodromus Plantarum Capensium , 117. The specific epithet falcata is Latin for "sickle-shaped" and refers to the appearance of the leaves.
The British botanist Robert Brown described the species under the taxon Podocarpus falcatus ; his description was published in 1825 by the French botanist Charles François Brisseau de Mirbel in Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle , 13, page 75. The French botanist Élie-Abel Carrière assigned the species the taxon Nageia falcata in Revue Horticole (Paris) Volume 40, page 370 in 1869. In 1969 David John de Laubenfels classified this species under the taxon Decussocarpus falcatus in Journal of the Arnold Arboretum , Volume 50, Page 359 to another genre.
In 1989 the botanist Christopher Nigel Page put this species under the recognized name Afrocarpus falcatus in Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh , Volume 45, page 383. 1988. in the genus Afrocarpus (in a prior publication in 1988 with the specific epithet falcata ).
use
The wood is used for the manufacture of furniture, roof beams, floors, door and window frames and in boat building. Many famous yellow wood antiques in South Africa were made from the wood of this type. The trunks were previously used as a masthead in shipbuilding. The bark is used to tan leather.
Special specimens
The Department of Water and Forests in South Africa named some of the largest trees "Champion Trees"; among them are the following:
- The "Tsitsikamma Big Tree" with a height of 39 meters and a trunk diameter of 3.13 meters. The crown of this specimen is 37.5 meters wide (Robert Van Pelt, measured values from 2003). This tree is located in Plaatbos Nature Reserve, Storms River State Forest, Storms River, Eastern Cape and is a tourist attraction.
- The "King Edward VII Tree" is the tallest of all publicly accessible specimens and is in the Diepwalle State Forest, Knysna, Western Cape .
- The “Woodville Big Tree” (coordinates: 33.934 ° S, 22.645 ° E) is also open to tourists; it is in the Bergplaas State Forest, Collins' Hoek, Western Cape.
- The Eastern Monarch is located near the Tyume Mountain Trail in the Auckland Nature Reserve of Hogsback , Keiskamma State Forest, Eastern Cape.
swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Afrocarpus falcatus. In: The Gymnosperm Database. February 28, 2019, accessed on May 16, 2019 .
- Datasheet with photos at PlantzAfrica . (English)
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e Afrocarpus falcatus in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ↑ a b c d e Afrocarpus falcatus at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ↑ See web link The Gymnosperm Database . It cites the following source for this: Department of Water and Forests. 2006-12-06. National Forests Act (8411998): Declaration of particular trees and particular group of trees "Champion Trees" under section 12 (1) (a) a nd (b) of the Act. Government Gazette 29452: 3-5. Available: http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=58704 ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tyume Indigenous Forest
literature
- OA Leistner: Podocarpaceae . In: LE Codd, B. De Winter, HB Rycrodt (Eds.): Flora of Southern Africa, Volume I. Republic of South Africa Department on Agricultural Technical Services . 1966, p. 34–41 (described there as Podocarpus falcatus ).
Web links
- Afrocarpus falcatus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: Conifer Specialist Group, 2008. Accessed on 9 November, 2008.
- Description of the Big Tree at schiemann-web.de .
- Illustrated entry with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)