- Family: Moringaceae Martinov
- Genus: Moringa Adans.
Moringa stenopetala (Baker f.) Cufod.
- Genus: Moringa Adans.
This species is accepted, and its native range is SW. & S. Ethiopia to Kenya.
Descriptions
According to Flora of Tropical East Africa
[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
Synonyms
Other Data
Moringa stenopetala (Baker f.) Cufod. appears in other Kew resources:
Bibliography
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