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  1. Family: Moringaceae Martinov
    1. Genus: Moringa Adans.

      1. Moringa longituba Engl.

        This species is accepted, and its native range is E. & S. Ethiopia to N. Kenya.

    [FTEA]

    Moringaceae, Bernard Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1986

    Habit
    Shrub or subshrub, often with a single slender brittle stem or several virgate stems 0.9-3 m. tall, but some flowering shoots may be as little as 10 cm. long, grey pilose when young but soon glabrous; bark purple-brown or dark grey, finely longitudinally ridged when dry; tuber up to the size of a rugby football, about 30 cm. below ground.
    Leaves
    Leaves (1(cult.) -)2-3-pinnate, 15-40 cm. long, with 2 pairs of pinnae and with 3-5 leaflets, densely pubescent when very young, later glabrescent; leaflets oblong, elliptic or obovate, 2.5-6(-7 cult.) cm. long, 1.5-4.5(-5.2 cult.) cm. wide, rounded or emarginate but apiculate at the apex, cuneate, rounded or subcordate at the base, glabrous or finely puberulous, the venation ± prominent beneath; petioles up to 2.5 cm. long.
    Flowers
    Flowers in sparsely pilose inflorescences appearing when the plant is leafless; rachis 4 cm. long; bracts oblong, 1.5 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, obtuse, sparsely pilose; stalks elongate, cylindrical, articulate, 0.5-2 cm. long, true pedicels short.
    Receptacle
    Receptacle tubular, 1.3-3 cm. long, 2 mm. wide.
    Perianth
    Sepals rose, linear-oblong, 0.9-1.2 cm. long, 3-4 mm. wide, deflexed, pubescent at the apex; petals paler rose to bright pink, often white at base or yellowish, linear, 1.2-1.5 cm. long, 3 mm. wide.
    Stamens
    Stamens attached to margin of receptacle on very narrow annulus, filaments 1.2 cm. long; anthers yellow-green, 2 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide; staminodes 5, episepalous, ± as long as stamen-filaments.
    Pistil
    Ovary 5 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, glabrous, the stipe 5 mm. long; style white, filiform, up to 2 cm. long in young fruit but mostly as long as staminodes.
    Fruits
    Pods purple-brown with bloom or purple-striped, 13.5-30 cm. long, 1.2-1.4(-2.1) cm. wide, each valve with 2 grooves.
    Seeds
    Seeds yellow-green or colourless, the body 1-1.3 cm. long, 8-9 mm. wide, transversely ridged and pitted, the wings 2-3 cm. long overall, separated by wide sinuses at the extremities.
    Figures
    Fig. 2/5, 6, 10.
    Habitat
    Open Commiphora thicket, Commiphora-Acacia bushland with scattered larger trees often on soils over limestone; 210-750 m.
    Distribution
    has been cultivated in K6 at Ol Lorgosailic [Orgasalik] K1

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia

    Moringa longituba Engl. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Gillett, J.B. [13444], Kenya 23719.000
    Bally, P.R.O. [9065], Kenya 23718.000
    Ellis, P.E. [342], Ethiopia K000569342
    Burger, W. [3285], Ethiopia K000569446
    Burger, W. [3285], Ethiopia K000569351

    First published in Annuario Reale Ist. Bot. Roma 9: 251 (1904)

    Accepted by

    • Edwards, S., Tadesse, M., Demissew, S. & Hedberg, I. (eds.) (2000). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea 2(1): 1-532. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia & The Department of Systematic Botany, Upps.
    • Thulin, M. (ed.) (1993). Flora of Somalia 1: 1-493. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
    • Verdcourt, B. (1986). Flora of Tropical East Africa, Moringaceae: 1- 11.

    Literature

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    • Thulin, M. (ed.) (1993). Flora of Somalia 1: 1-493. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • Verde. in Kew Bulletin 40: 21 (1985).
    • Burger, Fam. Fl. Pl. Eth., fig. 19/2 (1967).
    • Dale & Greenway, Kenya Trees and Shrubs p. 326 (1961).
    • Verdc. in Kew Bulletin 13: 385 (1959).
    • Cufod., Enumeratio Plantarum Aethiopiae Spermatophyta (Supplement in Bull. Jard. Bot. Brux.) p. 162 (1954).
    • Chiov. in Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1917: 27 (1917).
    • Engl. in Ann. Ist. Bot. Roma 9: 251 (1902).

    Sources

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2019. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2019. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0