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  1. Family: Araliaceae Juss.
    1. Genus: Cussonia Thunb.

      1. Cussonia arborea Hochst. ex A.Rich.

        This species is accepted, and its native range is Tropical Africa.

    [FTEA]

    Araliaceae, J. R. Tennant. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1968

    Habit
    A tree up to 13 m. tall, with a bole up to 1 m. or more in diameter; bark thick and fissured, dark grey to reddish-grey.
    Leaves
    Leaves simple, deeply palmately lobed or digitately compound with sessile leaflets; petiole up to 45 cm. or longer and 8 mm. diameter, at first tomentose becoming tomentulose or subglabrous; leaflets or leaf-lobes 5–7, chartaceous to coriaceous, lanceolate to oblanceolate, ovate and obovate, sometimes rotund, up to 26 cm. long by 16 cm. wide, (1.2–)1.5–2.5 times as long as wide, acuminate to retuse at apex, cuneate to attenuate at base, with the margins crenate to serrulate (or subentire), occasionally irregularly so, velutinous above, tomentose below when young, becoming sparsely scabrid above and pubescent beneath (or occasionally entirely subglabrous) when mature.
    Inflorescences
    Flowering spikes up to about 20 together, mostly less than 10, up to 40 cm. long, sometimes galled (see note on p. 1); floral bracts narrowly lanceolate to broadly ovate, occasionally orbicular, often caudate, up to 5 mm. long, but sometimes obsolete except for tail, puberulous to densely pubescent.
    Fruits
    Fruits 3.5–4.5(–6.0) mm. long, glabrous or puberulous.
    Figures
    Fig. 1.
    Habitat
    Woodland, grouped-tree grassland; 300–2470 m.
    Distribution
    K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 T1 T2 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 U1 U3
    [FZ]

    Araliaceae, J. F. M. Cannon. Flora Zambesiaca 4. 1978

    Habit
    Robust tree up to 11 m.
    Leaves
    Leaves digitately compound (palmate in juvenile states) Petiole up to 50(87) cm. long, usually glabrous but sometimes somewhat puberulent in patches.
    Leaflets
    Leaflets 5–9(10), up to 27 × 8 cm., sessile but with long, very narrowly tapering cuneate bases, chartaceous to somewhat coriaceous, glabrous or with occasional hairs; apex acute to acuminate; margins more or less regularly serrate-crenate to more or less entire, rarely deeply and jaggedly cut.
    Inflorescences
    Flowering spikes up to 26 together, but frequently of c. 10–12, at first short and congested, but elongating as the flowers mature, and further as the fruit develop, up to 50 cm. in length. Axis of the spike densely puberulous; basal bracts broadly triangular.
    Flowers
    Flowers sessile with floral bracts that are conspicuous in the unexpanded spikes, but insignificant and more or less caducous before maturity.
    Stylopodium
    Stylopodium quite well developed; stigmatic surfaces very small, scarcely freely diverging at the tip.
    Fruits
    Fruit ovoid-cylindrical to subglobose, 4–5·5 × up to 4 mm., glabrous or more rarely puberulous.
    [FTEA]

    Araliaceae, J. R. Tennant. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1968

    Habit
    A tree to 11 m. tall with a bole of up to 0.75 m. diameter; bark deeply fissured and corky.
    Leaves
    Leaves digitately compound (occasionally not quite completely so); petiole up to 87 cm. long and 9 mm. diameter, but usually much smaller, mostly glabrous or somewhat hairy in places; leaflets 5–9(–10), sessile, chartaceous to coriaceous, lanceolate to oblanceolate, ovate and obovate, up to 23 cm. long by 10.5 cm. wide, (1¾–)2½–5½ times as long as wide, caudate to obtuse, very rarely emarginate, with a narrowly cuneate to much attenuated base, with crenate to serrate or virtually entire margins, glabrous or with scattered short hairs.
    Inflorescences
    Flowering spikes up to about 26 together, but mostly less than 12, up to 46 cm. long, sometimes galled (see note on p. 1); floral bracts similar to those of C. arborea.
    Fruits
    Fruits 4.0–5.5 (–7.0) mm. long, glabrous or puberulous.
    [FWTA]

    Araliaceae, Hutchinson and Dalziel. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:2. 1958

    Habit
    A deciduous savannah tree; leaves and flower-spikes clustered at the ends of the thick branches
    Flowers
    Flowers greenish-white
    Fruits
    Ripe fruits whitish.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Repu, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

    Introduced into:

    Senegal

    Cussonia arborea Hochst. ex A.Rich. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    May 1, 1973 Kirk, J. [4], Mozambique K000350590
    May 1, 1973 Kirk, J. [s.n.], Mozambique K000350591
    Dalziel, J.M. [172], Nigeria K000350568
    Dalziel, J.M. [172], Nigeria K000350569
    Chevalier, A. [22185], Ivory Coast K000350564
    Schweinfurth, G. [No II 159] K000350574
    Schweinfurth, G. [No II 159] K000350575
    Schweinfurth, G. [1851] K000350576
    Schweinfurth, G. [1851] K000350577
    illegible [815], Togo K000350567
    Thompson, H.N. [LXI], Ghana K000350565
    Saunders, C. [805], Ghana K000350566
    Schimper, G.H.W. [1357], Ethiopia K000350572
    Schimper, G.H.W. [1357], Ethiopia K000350573
    Timberlake, J. [4933], Mozambique K000545283
    Timberlake, J. [s.n.], Malawi K000614718
    Milne-Redhead, E. [3718A], Tanzania Cussonia kirkii 34672.000
    Milne-Redhead, E. [8274], Tanzania Cussonia kirkii K000350581 Unknown type material
    Milne-Redhead, E. [8274], Tanzania Cussonia kirkii K000350582
    Milne-Redhead, E. [8274], Tanzania Cussonia kirkii K000350583

    First published in Tent. Fl. Abyss. 1: 356 (1848)

    Accepted by

    • Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
    • Brundu, G. & Camarda, I. (2013). The Flora of Chad: a checklist and brief analysis PhytoKeys 23: 1-18.
    • Fischer, E., Rembold, K., Althof, A. & Obholzer, J. (2010). Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Kakamega forest, Western province, Kenya Journal of East African Natural History 99: 129-226.
    • Timberlake, J.R., Bayliss, J., Alves, T., Francisco, J., Harris, T., Nangoma, D. & de Sousa, C. (2009). Biodiversity and Conservation of Mchese Mountain, Malawi. Report produced under the Darwin Initiative Award 15/036: 1-71. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
    • Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
    • Calane da Silva, M., Izdine, S. & Amuse, A.B. (2004). A Preliminary Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Mozambique: 1-184. SABONET, Pretoria.
    • Frodin, D.G. & Govaerts, R. (2003 publ. 2004). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araliaceae: 1-444. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
    • Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.
    • Lebrun, J.P., Toutain, B., Gaston, A. & Boudet, G. (1991). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Burkina Faso: 1-341. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.

    Literature

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    • Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
    • Lebrun, J.P., Toutain, B., Gaston, A. & Boudet, G. (1991). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Burkina Faso: 1-341. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.
    • Lebrun, J.-P., Audru, J., Gaston, A. & Mosnier, M. (1972). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Tchad Méridional: 1-289. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.
    • Berhaut, J. (1971). Flore illustrée du Sénégal 1: 1-626. Gouvernement du Sénégal, Ministère du développement rural direction des eaux et forêta, Dakar.
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • F. White, Forest Flora of Northern Rhodesia p. 312 (1962).
    • Dale & Greenway, Kenya Trees and Shrubs p. 52, fig. 10/B (1961).
    • F. W. Andr., The Flowering Plants of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 2: 356 (1952).
    • J.P.M. Brenan, Check-lists of the Forest Trees and Shrubs of the British Empire no. 5, part II, Tanganyika Territory p. 59 (1949).
    • Battiscombe & Dale, Trees and Shrubs of Kenya Colony p. 115 (1936)
    • Lebrun in Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de l'État a Bruxelles 13: 14 (1934).
    • A. Engler & O. Drude, Die Vegetation Der Erde, IX, Pflanzenwelt Afrikas 3 (2): 782, fig. 325 (1921).
    • Harms in A. Engler & K. Prantl, Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 3 (8): 53 (1894).
    • Hiern in Flora of Tropical Africa 3: 31 (1877).
    • A. Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 1: 336, t. 56 (1847).

    Sources

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

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

    Flora of West Tropical Africa
    Flora of West Tropical 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.
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/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