Dainty toad tree
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Dainty toad tree ( Tabernaemontana elegans ) |
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| Tabernaemontana elegans | ||||||||||||
| Stapf |
The dainty toad tree ( Tabernaemontana elegans ), also known as windmill jasmine, is a species of plant in the subfamily Rauvolfioideae within the family of dog poison plants (Apocynaceae). The natural range is in East Africa and Southern Africa .
description
Appearance, bark and leaf
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The dainty toad tree grows as a shrub or small tree and reaches heights of 1.5 to 12 meters. The cylindrical trunks have a diameter of 5 to 30 cm. The light brown, corky, deeply cracked bark makes this wood more or less fire-resistant. The branches have a light brown corky bark, the longitudinal cracks and transverse ridges caused by leaf scars as well as scattered lenticels of the same color. The bark of the branches is bare.
The constantly against arranged on the branches leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The bald petiole is 7 to 30 mm long. The leathery, simple leaf blades are variable in size, with a length of (rarely 4 to) 5.5 to 23 cm and a width of (rarely 1 to) 2 to 8 cm, they are two to four times as long as broad and narrow to broadly elliptical with a wedge-shaped or descending blade base and often with a blunt point, pointed, pointed or blunt upper end. The leaf margin is smooth. Usually both leaf surfaces are bare, rarely the underside of the leaf is hairy downy. On both sides of the central vein there are 12 to 23 side veins that are straight with the exception of the tip of the spade, where they are bent upwards (anastomos); Like a herringbone, the side veins form an angle of 70 to 90 ° with the central vein. The third-order leaf veins are reticulated, particularly clearly visible on old leaves.
Inflorescence and flower
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In southern Africa the flowering period extends from spring to autumn. With a length of 1 to 8.5 cm, the short to long, very thin inflorescence shafts are bald to sometimes scattered with short hairs. Usually a lot of flowers stand together in a loose inflorescence , which has a length of 5 to 20 cm and a diameter of 5 to 15 cm. The support leaves (bracts) are imbricated and about as long as the sepals; they fall off early and have a number of colleteren (glands) in their armpits. The 2 to 6 mm long flower stalks are glabrous to sometimes scattered with short hairs.
The sweet smelling flowers attract many insects . The hermaphroditic flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five light green, almost free sepals are 1.2 to 2.5 mm long and 1.2 to 2.5 mm wide, one fifth shorter to the same length as wide, almost circular or broadly ovoid. The sepals are hairy on the outside and sometimes downy, and inside they have a series of rounded and upright colleteren (glands) at their base. The five petals are fused. In the finished bud, the petals have a total length of 8.5 to 15 mm, with the corolla lobes 1/3 to about 1/2 the length of the bud and one with a length of 3.5 to 8 mm and a width 3.5 to 6 mm wide egg-shaped head with a blunt upper end. The white, cream-colored to light yellow petals are bald on the outside or they have a few small hairs ( trichomes ) and inside they have a densely downy, hairy belt from the starting point of the stamens to the mouth. The corolla-tube, which is almost cylindrical with a diameter of 1.8 to 2.4 mm, is 2.5 to 4 times as long as the calyx with a length of 5 to 7 mm; it is narrowed both at its base and just below the starting points of the stamens and widened at the throat. The sickle-shaped and rounded corolla lobes are 8 to 15 mm long and 3 to 7 mm wide and 1.3 to 2.5 times as long as the corolla tube. The corolla lobes are slightly eyed at their base on the left side. There is only one circle with five fertile stamens ; they do not protrude beyond the crown and end 1 to 2 mm below the crown mouth. The mutually free stamens are inserted 2 to 2.7 mm above the base in the corolla tube. The bald anthers have a length of 2 to 2.5 mm and a width of 0.6 to 0.7 mm. The bald pistil is 3.5 to 4.2 mm long. Two carpels are a top permanent ovary grown, the 1.2 mm at a size of 1.2 to 1.6 mm × 1.2 to 1.4 × 1 almost spherical to nearly cylindrical, and is flattened laterally. There are around 35 to 60 ovules per carpel . The stylus has a length of 1 to 1.2 mm and a diameter of 0.2 mm and is widened at its upper end. The upright, long scar is barrel-shaped; it has a "clavuncula", which consists of two rings: the lower one is narrower with 0.5 to 0.8 mm × 0.1 mm and the upper with 0.3 to 0.4 mm × 0.5 to 0, 6 mm wider, but it gradually merges into the narrower one over a length of rarely 0.5 to usually 1 mm.
Fruit and seeds
With a size of 5 to 8 cm × 4 to 6.5 cm × 4 to 5 cm obliquely egg-shaped or ellipsoidal partial fruits are bluish-green to green with conspicuous light brown warts and acuminate with three ridges, which are more noticeable in dry fruits. The partial fruits are twofold and contain many seeds. There is a thick, orange aril . The dark brown, dull seeds are 14 to 15 mm × 7 to 9 mm × 6 to 7 mm in size and have a surface that looks like a brain through reticulated furrows and has tiny warts.
Occurrence
Tabernaemontana elegans is widespread in East Africa and Southern Africa . There are localities in: Somalia , Kenya , Tanzania , Malawi , Mozambique , Zimbabwe , Swaziland and the South African provinces of KwaZulu-Natal , Limpopo and Mpumalanga .
In tropical East Africa, it thrives at altitudes between 0 and 700 meters in woodland, usually in association with Brachystegia species, often near the coast and there on the dunes , less often inland and then in gallery forests .
Taxonomy
The first description of Tabernaemontana elegans was in 1894 by Otto Stapf in Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information Kew , 1894 (1), pp. 24-25. A synonym for Tabernaemontana elegans Stapf is Conopharyngia elegans (Stampf) Stapf.
swell
- Michael Cheek: Tabernaemontana elegans Stapf. at PlantZAfrica from the South African National Biodiversity Institute = SANBI. September 2010. (Section Description, Occurrence and Use)
- Anthonius Josephus Maria Van Leeuwenberg: Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 7 (2), 1985, pp. 439-440: Tabernaemontana elegans Stapf . (Section Description and Occurrence)
- Braam Van Wyk, Piet Van Wyk: Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa (Field Guides) , Struik Publishers, 1997, ISBN 1-86825-922-6 : Tabernaemontana elegans on p. 312 (section description, occurrence and use)
- Entry in Flora of Zimbabwe .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Anthonius Josephus Maria Van Leeuwenberg: Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 7 (2), 1985, pp. 439-440: Tabernaemontana elegans Stapf .
- ↑ Braam Van Wyk, Piet Van Wyk: Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa (Field Guides). Struik Publishers, 1997, ISBN 1-86825-922-6 : Tabernaemontana elegans on p. 312.
- ↑ a b Tabernaemontana elegans in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
- ↑ Tabernaemontana elegans at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
