English: Umbrella tree.
Synonym: Maesopsis berchemoides
Genus: 1 species.
Region: India and Africa, West and Central Africa, Liberia, Congo, Angola to Uganda; introduced in Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia.
Habitat: submontane rainforest, humid forests, colonising cleared areas and flourishing as secondary growth. It is often present in the border zone between savannah and forest.
Culture: invasive; previous root mat disappears, leaf litter becomes thinner, soil pH rises, biodiversity decreases.
Use: plantation tree for shade tree in coffee plantations; regeneration of destroyed forest lands; wood for construction and firewood; leaves for animal fodder; sapwood is pale; heartwood is olive-brown to deep red; wood for poles, boxes and crates; wood susceptible to damage by termites and to rotting when wet.
BotanyLarge, fast-growing semi-deciduous tree; about 30 m high; pioneer species; under the tree the root mat disappears, leaf litter becomes thinner, the soil pH rises and the biodiversity of ground plants and animals decreases.
Stem: straight; clear bole for the lowest third; bark is greyish-brown and deeply furrowed; branches mostly horizontal causing the crown to be flat; sapwood is pale; heartwood is olive-brown to deep red.
Leaves: simple, elliptic-lanceolate, toothed margins, 6 cm to 15 cm long, 2 cm to 5 cm broad; glossy above, with a gland in each tooth; underside have domatia in the axils of the secondary nerves.
Inflorescence: many-flowered cyme.
Flowers: greenish-yellow; hermaphroditic; 5 calyx lobes longer than the corolla lobes; single anther; flowering when a few years old.
Fruit: drupe, up to 3.5 cm long; green at first, late yellow, purple-black when ripen; 1 or 2 per inflorescence; contains a large stone with one or two black seeds inside.
Pollination: by insects.
Dispersion: by monkeys, large birds, hornbills.