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Ficalhoa laurifolia Hiern [family THEACEAE]
Date Updated: 26 July 2007
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 1, Part 2, page 405, (1961) Author: N. K. B. Robson
Names
Ficalhoa laurifolia Hiern [family THEACEAE], in Journ. of Bot. 36: 329, t. 390 (1898). TAB. 79. Type from Angola (Huila).
Information
Tree (2) 6–24 (36) m. high, much branched, evergreen, with rough fissured brown bark and copious white latex. Branches terete (or longitudinally ridged when dry), rather sparsely pilose at first, eventually glabrous. Leaves petiolate; lamina (5) 7–12·4 × (1·8) 2–4·3 cm., oblong or lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, with a bluntly serrulate margin, subcoriaceous, dark glossy green above, paler and sometimes glaucous below, wholly glabrous or sparsely pilose below or on both sides, with slender pinnate nerves and frequently inconspicuous reticulate venation; petiole 3–9 mm. long, pilose or glabrescent. Flowers small, in solitary or paired dichasia, on the second-year shoots; primary peduncle 2–6 mm. long, pubescent; pedicels short or very short, pubescent; bracteoles half as long as the calyx, ovate or oblong, rounded. Sepals c. 1 mm. long, rounded, sparsely pubescent. Petals yellowish to white or greenish, 3 mm. long, oblong, rounded, glabrous. Stamens glabrous; anthers c. 0·25 mm. long, elliptic-obovoid, glabrous; filaments c. 1 mm. long. Ovary densely appressed-pilose; styles pilose at the base, otherwise glabrous; stigmas papillose. Capsule c. 3 mm. in diam., 1–11/2 times as long as the calyx, with widely spreading valves. Seeds 1 mm. long, ovoid-oblong, slightly curved; testa loose, whitish-fawn, semi-translucent, reticulate.
Habitat
Evergreen rain-forest, riverine forest and streamsides
Altitude range
1350–1800 m. (to 2400 m. in Uganda).
1800
1350
Distribution
Zambia W Mwinilunga, fl. 8.ix.1955, Holmes 1175 (K).Malawi N Vipya, above Luwawa Dam towards Kawendama, fl. 27.xii.1955, Chapman 262 (K).Zambia N Mpika, fr. 4.ii.1955, Fanshawe 1978 (K; SRGH).
Distribution (external)
Angola (Huila)
Tanganyika
Uganda
Ruanda-Urundi
Belgian Congo
Notes
F. laurifolia is easily recognized by the axillary dichasia of flowers with 5 fascicles each of 3 stamens. The old capsules usually contain a large number of small, sterile seeds.
Date Updated: 26 July 2007
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 1, Part 2, page 405, (1961) Author: N. K. B. Robson
Names
Ficalhoa laurifolia Hiern [family THEACEAE], in Journ. of Bot. 36: 329, t. 390 (1898). TAB. 79. Type from Angola (Huila).
Information
Tree (2) 6–24 (36) m. high, much branched, evergreen, with rough fissured brown bark and copious white latex. Branches terete (or longitudinally ridged when dry), rather sparsely pilose at first, eventually glabrous. Leaves petiolate; lamina (5) 7–12·4 × (1·8) 2–4·3 cm., oblong or lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, with a bluntly serrulate margin, subcoriaceous, dark glossy green above, paler and sometimes glaucous below, wholly glabrous or sparsely pilose below or on both sides, with slender pinnate nerves and frequently inconspicuous reticulate venation; petiole 3–9 mm. long, pilose or glabrescent. Flowers small, in solitary or paired dichasia, on the second-year shoots; primary peduncle 2–6 mm. long, pubescent; pedicels short or very short, pubescent; bracteoles half as long as the calyx, ovate or oblong, rounded. Sepals c. 1 mm. long, rounded, sparsely pubescent. Petals yellowish to white or greenish, 3 mm. long, oblong, rounded, glabrous. Stamens glabrous; anthers c. 0·25 mm. long, elliptic-obovoid, glabrous; filaments c. 1 mm. long. Ovary densely appressed-pilose; styles pilose at the base, otherwise glabrous; stigmas papillose. Capsule c. 3 mm. in diam., 1–11/2 times as long as the calyx, with widely spreading valves. Seeds 1 mm. long, ovoid-oblong, slightly curved; testa loose, whitish-fawn, semi-translucent, reticulate.
Habitat
Evergreen rain-forest, riverine forest and streamsides
Altitude range
1350–1800 m. (to 2400 m. in Uganda).
1800
1350
Distribution
Zambia W Mwinilunga, fl. 8.ix.1955, Holmes 1175 (K).Malawi N Vipya, above Luwawa Dam towards Kawendama, fl. 27.xii.1955, Chapman 262 (K).Zambia N Mpika, fr. 4.ii.1955, Fanshawe 1978 (K; SRGH).
Distribution (external)
Angola (Huila)
Tanganyika
Uganda
Ruanda-Urundi
Belgian Congo
Notes
F. laurifolia is easily recognized by the axillary dichasia of flowers with 5 fascicles each of 3 stamens. The old capsules usually contain a large number of small, sterile seeds.
Date Updated: 26 July 2007
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 1, Part 2, page 405, (1961) Author: N. K. B. Robson
Names
Ficalhoa laurifolia Hiern [family THEACEAE], in Journ. of Bot. 36: 329, t. 390 (1898). TAB. 79. Type from Angola (Huila).
Information
Tree (2) 6–24 (36) m. high, much branched, evergreen, with rough fissured brown bark and copious white latex. Branches terete (or longitudinally ridged when dry), rather sparsely pilose at first, eventually glabrous. Leaves petiolate; lamina (5) 7–12·4 × (1·8) 2–4·3 cm., oblong or lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, with a bluntly serrulate margin, subcoriaceous, dark glossy green above, paler and sometimes glaucous below, wholly glabrous or sparsely pilose below or on both sides, with slender pinnate nerves and frequently inconspicuous reticulate venation; petiole 3–9 mm. long, pilose or glabrescent. Flowers small, in solitary or paired dichasia, on the second-year shoots; primary peduncle 2–6 mm. long, pubescent; pedicels short or very short, pubescent; bracteoles half as long as the calyx, ovate or oblong, rounded. Sepals c. 1 mm. long, rounded, sparsely pubescent. Petals yellowish to white or greenish, 3 mm. long, oblong, rounded, glabrous. Stamens glabrous; anthers c. 0·25 mm. long, elliptic-obovoid, glabrous; filaments c. 1 mm. long. Ovary densely appressed-pilose; styles pilose at the base, otherwise glabrous; stigmas papillose. Capsule c. 3 mm. in diam., 1–11/2 times as long as the calyx, with widely spreading valves. Seeds 1 mm. long, ovoid-oblong, slightly curved; testa loose, whitish-fawn, semi-translucent, reticulate.
Habitat
Evergreen rain-forest, riverine forest and streamsides
Altitude range
1350–1800 m. (to 2400 m. in Uganda).
1800
1350
Distribution
Zambia W Mwinilunga, fl. 8.ix.1955, Holmes 1175 (K).Malawi N Vipya, above Luwawa Dam towards Kawendama, fl. 27.xii.1955, Chapman 262 (K).Zambia N Mpika, fr. 4.ii.1955, Fanshawe 1978 (K; SRGH).
Distribution (external)
Angola (Huila)
Tanganyika
Uganda
Ruanda-Urundi
Belgian Congo
Notes
F. laurifolia is easily recognized by the axillary dichasia of flowers with 5 fascicles each of 3 stamens. The old capsules usually contain a large number of small, sterile seeds.
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