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

      1. Moringa stenopetala (Baker f.) Cufod.

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

    [FTEA]

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

    Habit
    Tree 6-10 m. tall, ± 60 cm. diameter at breast height, with strongly branched crown, sometimes with several trunks, ± thick at base; bark white to pale grey, black or silvery, smooth; wood soft; branches with leaf-scars 6-10 mm. diameter; young stems and leaves densely velvety pubescent.
    Leaves
    Leaves up to 55 cm. long, 2- ± 3-pinnate with ± 5 pairs of pinnae and 3-9 leaflets per pinna; leaflets elliptic to ovate, 3.3-6.5 cm. long, 1.8-3.3 cm. wide, acute, with thickened apiculum at apex, rounded to cuneate at the base, pubescent or ± glabrous; petiole 10-15 mm.; stipel-like glands clavate ± 2 mm. long.
    Flowers
    Flowers strongly scented in pubescent dense many-flowered panicles ± 60 cm. long, regular, hypogynous; peduncles 4-10 cm. long; stalks ± 2 mm. long; true pedicels almost obsolete or 0.5 mm. long; receptacle small 1 × 2 mm.
    Calyx
    Sepals cream flushed pink, subequal, oblong-elliptic, 4-7 mm. long, 2-3.5 mm. wide, ± obtuse, glabrous save for ciliolate margins.
    Corolla
    Petals white, pale yellow or yellow-green, linear-oblong to oblong, slightly spathulate, 8-10 mm. long, 1.5-2.5 mm. wide, with long multicellular hairs inside.
    Stamens
    Filaments white, 4-6.5 mm. long, ± glabrous, the staminodes less than half as long; anthers yellow, 2 mm. long.
    Pistil
    Ovary ovoid, 2.2 mm. long, densely hairy; stipe 1 mm. long; style narrowly cylindrical, 4 mm. long.
    Fruits
    Pods elongate, reddish with greyish bloom, at first ± twisted, later straight, sometimes ± torulose, 19.7-50 cm. long, (1.8-)2.3-4 cm. wide, the valves grooved.
    Seeds
    Seeds cream and brown, spongy, smooth, elliptic-trigonous, the body 2.5-3.5 cm. long, 1.4-2 cm. wide, the wings 6-9 cm. long, 2.5-3.2 cm. wide overall with wide sinuses.
    Figures
    Fig. 1.
    Habitat
    Acacia tortilis woodland, riverine woodland of Hyphaene, Acacia, Sahadora, Cadaba, etc., Acacia-Delonix-Commiphora associations, ‘scrub and succulent steppe’, in the wild usually on rocky ground by permanent water but cultivated in several places, e.g. at Isiolo and Moyale and also Dar es Salaam University; 390-1140 m.
    Distribution
    K1 K2 K3 also cultivated

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Ethiopia, Kenya

    Moringa stenopetala (Baker f.) Cufod. appears in other Kew resources:

    First published in Senckenberg. Biol. 38: 407 (1957)

    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.
    • Verdcourt, B. (1986). Flora of Tropical East Africa, Moringaceae: 1- 11.

    Literature

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    • 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.
    • Verdcourt, B. (1986). Flora of Tropical East Africa, Moringaceae: 1- 11.
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • Verdc. in Kew Bulletin 40: 20 (1985).
    • Verdc. in Kew Bulletin 21: 243 (1967).
    • Dale & Greenway, Kenya Trees and Shrubs p. 327 (1961).
    • Verdc. in Kew Bulletin 13: 385 (1959)
    • Cuf. in Senck. Biol. 38: 407 (1957).

    Sources

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

    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