Flora Zambesiaca

Taxon Detail

FZ volume:1 part:1 (1960) Flacourtiaceae by H. Wild

(Search other Kew databases for: Caloncoba welwitschii)

Caloncoba welwitschii (Oliv.) Gilg

in Engl., Bot. Jahrb. 40: 462 (1908). — Sleumer in Exell & Mendonça, C.F.A. 1 1: 82 (1937). Type from Angola. Oncoba welwitschii Oliv., F.T.A. 1: 117 (1868). Type as above.

Synonyms:

Oncoba welwitschii Oliv.

F.T.A. 1: 117 (1868). Type as above.

Distribution:

Malawi

N: Mugesse Forest, Misuku Hills, fl. & fr. x.1955, Chapman 165 (FHO).

Mozambique

N: Muatua, Nametil, fl. 21.vii.1948, Pedro & Pedrógão 4611 (LMJ; SRGH).

Range:

Angola;  Belgian Congo;  Cameroons;  Gaboon;  Nigeria;  Tanganyika; 

Habitat:

In the lower storey of evergreen forests and forest patches. 

Description:

Small or medium sized tree up to c. 14 m. tall, branches glabrous or puberulous. Leaves collected towards the ends of the branches; lamina up to 25 x 18 cm., membranous, ovate, apex acuminate, base rounded or slightly cordate, 5-nerved from the base; petiole up to 15 cm. long; stipules up to 2.5 cm. long, subulate-aristate, caducous. Flowers up to 10 cm. in diam., scented, borne on the previous year’s branches or on older wood, appearing with the young leaves, in fascicles of 2–5; pedicels up to c. 2–5 cm. long, sparingly glandular. Sepals 2 x 1.3 cm., imbricate, very concave, glandular on exposed parts outside, oblong. Petals white, c. 10, about twice the size of the sepals, spathulate-oblong, tapering to a short basal claw, strongly veined towards the base. Stamens very numerous with slender filaments up to 2 cm. long; anthers linear, 4 mm. long, dehiscing by apical slits. Ovary tuberculate; placentas 5–6; style slender, c. 1 cm. long, stigma-lobes 5–6, linear, obtuse or capitate. Fruit a densely echinate capsule c. 8 cm. in diam. (including spines), with slender spines 1.5–2 cm. long, splitting into 5–6 recurved valves when ripe; style persistent. Seeds numerous, 6–7 mm. in diam., globose, puberulous.