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FILICIUM decipiens (Wight & Arn.) Thwaites [family SAPINDACEAE]

Date Updated: 19 August 2007

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (1998) Author: DAVIES & B. VERDCOURT
Names
FILICIUM decipiens (Wight & Arn.) Thwaites [family SAPINDACEAE], Enum. Pl. Zeyl.: 408 (1864); T.T.C.L.: 557 (1949); Dale, Introd. Trees Uganda: 42 (1953); Jex-Blake, Gard. E. Afr., ed. 4: 224 (1957); K.T.S.: 511 (1961); Exell in F.Z. 2: 534, t. 114 (1966); Capuron in Mém. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat., Paris, 19: 38, t. 7/1–13 (1969); Noad & Birnie, Trees of Kenya: 265, fig. on 266 (1989); Vollesen in Fl. Ethiopia 3: 493, fig. 125.4 (1990); Leenh. in Fl. Males., ser. 1, 11: 754, fig. 86 (1994); Beentje, K.T.S.L.: 417, fig. & map (1994). Types: India, Wight 520 & 521 (K!, syn.) & Sri Lanka; Burm., Thes. Zeyl.: 99, t. 45 (1737) (syn.!) Rhus decipiens Wight & Arn. [family ANACARDIACEAE], Prodr. Fl. Pen. Ind. Or. 1: 172 (1834) Pteridophyllum decipiens (Wight & Arn.) Thwaites [family PAPAVERACEAE], in Hook., Journ. Bot. 6: 66, t. 1B (1854) Filicium elongatum Radlk. [family SAPINDACEAE], in P.O.A. C: 252 (1895); T.T.C.L.: 557 (1949). Type: Tanzania, Moshi District, Kilimanjaro, above Marangu, Volkens 1715 (B, holo.)
Information
Slender tree 4.5–20(–30) m. tall; bark smooth, whitish. Petiole winged, 1.5–11 cm. long; rhachis 15–30 cm. long, winged each side to 1 cm. wide, tapering below each leaflet pair; leaflets in 5–10 pairs, sessile, lanceolate to linear or narrowly oblong-elliptic, 5–16 cm. long, 0.5–4 cm. wide, acute, entire but crisped-undulate at the margin, glabrous, resinous when young; lateral nerves in 30–50 pairs, faint. Inflorescence 6–20 cm. long; pedicels 2–4 mm. long. Sepals 1.3 mm. long, herbaceous, puberulous inside, ciliate; petals yellow, 1.3 mm. long, ciliate, apparently caducous. Stamens exserted from the calyx; staminodes not exserted. Ovary 2-locular with 2 ovules, one only developing. Fruit ellipsoid or subglobose, 9–10 mm. long, 6–8 mm. wide, with persistent style and reflexed sepals. Fig. 2.
Range
DISTR. K 1, 4, 7; T 2, 3, 6, 7 also cultivated at Nairobi (arboretum, 22 Mar. 1963, Karanja 7) & Amani (Boma Garden, 26 Aug. 1929, Greenway 1689), Java, Sabah, Fiji, Samoa and Hawaii
Altitude range
450–1600 m.
Distribution
KENYA Fort Hall District Thika, Chania Gorge, 12 Apr. 1964, Verdcourt 4038B!KENYA Kiambu District Nairobi Falls, 17 July 1966, Gillett 17345!KENYA Kiambu/Machakos District Fourteen Falls, 6 Sept. 1952, Verdcourt 720!TANZANIA Lushoto District Makuyuni, 16 Dec. 1935, Koritschoner 1441!TANZANIA Ulanga District Mahenge, Tabora, 3 Feb. 1932, Schlieben 1726!TANZANIA Morogoro District Kimboza Forest Reserve, 10 Apr. 1957, Semsei 2669!
Distribution (external)
; Ethiopia Malawi Mozambique Zimbabwe Madagascar Comoro Is India Sri Lanka
Notes
Male and female flowers in an inflorescence appear to be separated in time by a very small margin compared with other Sapindaceae and may even overlap. It would be of interest to have this confirmed (or not) in the field.Capuron (Mém. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat., Paris, 19: 40 (1969)) describes a forma apterum from Madagascar with unwinged petioles and leaf-rhachises and Leenhouts figures such a plant.
FILICIUM decipiens (Wight & Arn.) Thwaites [family SAPINDACEAE]
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