Moringa ovalifolia
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Image 1
Habit
03 Jul 2009
Image 2
Leaves
03 Jul 2009
Image 3
Habit (note this swollen
trunk)
03 Jul 2009
Image 4
Leaves
21 Mar 2008
Image 5
Habit
28 Aug 2006
| Family: | Moringaceae |
| Full name: | Moringa ovalifolia Dinter & A.Berger |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Sprokiesboom, Meelsakboom |
| English common name(s): | Phantom tree, Ghost tree, Moringa, African moringa, African moringo |
| Synonym(s): | Moringa oleifera auct. - sensu Exell & Mendonça-- misapplied name Moringa ovalifoliolata Dinter & A.Berger Moringa pterygosperma Gaertn. |
| Status: | Near-endemic |
| Description: | Tree or sometimes tree-like shrub 2-6 (-10) m high with thick trunk up to 1 m in diameter and sparsely branched crown; bark smooth, silver-grey to pale brown, containing resin; wood light, pale yellow, spongy. Leaves bipinnate or sometimes pinnate or tripinnate, impari- or paripinnate, 30-80 cm long and 20-60 cm broad, densely to sparsely pubescent when young, at length petioles mostly thinly pubescent and other parts with sparse hairs to glabrous, pinnae in 5-8 pairs, undivided or consisting of 1-9 pairs of pinnules and a terminal pinnule, petiolules (2-) 5 (-7) mm long, pinnules narrowly to broadly ovate to narrowly elliptic, somewhat oblique towards the base, (1.5-) 2.4 (-4.5) x (0.8-) 1.5-2.5 (-3) cm, entire, mucronate, the glandular mucro 0.3-1 mm long, usually recurved at maturity and hidden below the pinnule, base slightly cordate to rounded, sometimes cuneate; at the base of all pinnae and pinnules 1 or 2 stalked, filiform glands up to 2 mm long, usually caducous. Inflorescence up to 50 cm long, with 2-3 stalked glands at all divarications and at the base of pedicels. Flowers actinomorphic or almost so, sweetly scented; pedicels 2-6 mm long, articulated about 0.5 mm from the top. Calyx petaloid, fused at the base into a green cup 0.5-1 mm long, sepals white, spathulate-oblong, 4-6 x 1-2 mm, margins with sparse short woolly hairs. Petals 5, white, narrowly obovate-spathulate, 5-8 x 1.6-2.5 mm, margins with sparse short, woolly hairs, especially in the upper half. Stamens glabrous; filaments 4-6 mm long; anthers 0-6-1 mm long; staminodes glabrous, 1-2 mm shorter than the stamens and usually more slender. Ovary on a very short gynophore, villous. Fruit 15-30 (-45) cm long, up to 2 cm broad, triangular to almost circular in cross-section. Seeds trigonous-ellipsoid with 3 membranous wings, ellipsoid portion 1-1.4 x 0.5-1 cm, entire seed 2.5-3.5 x 0.8-1.5 cm (from JSTOR website / Flora of Southern Africa) Bis 5m hoher, wenigästiger Baum mit glattem, bleigrauen, bis 1m dicken Stamm. (from www.herbariumhamburgense.de website) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie |
| Content last updated: | 22 Nov 2011 |
