|
''Prunus africana'', or red stinkwood, is an evergreen tree native to the montane regions of sub-Saharan Africa and the islands of Madagascar, São Tomé, Bioko, and Grande Comore at about above sea level. The mature tree is , open-branched, and often pendulous in forest, shorter and with a round crown of diameter in grassland. It requires a moist climate, annual rainfall, and is moderately frost-tolerant.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) Taxonomy for Plants )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) Taxonomy for Plants )〕〔 Previewable Google Books.〕〔 Previewable Google Books.〕 The bark is black to brown, corrugated or fissured, and scaly, fissuring in a characteristic rectangular pattern. The leaves are alternate, simple, long, elliptical, bluntly or acutely pointed, glabrous, and dark green above, pale green below, with mildly serrated margins. A central vein is depressed on top, prominent on the bottom. The petiole is pink or red. The flowers are androgynous, 10-20 stamens, insect-pollinated, , greenish white or buff, and are distributed in axillary racemes. The plant flowers October through May. The fruit is red to brown, , wider than long, two-lobed, with a seed in each lobe. It grows in bunches ripening September through November, several months after pollination. ==Ecology== As with other members of the genus ''Prunus'', ''Prunus africana'' possesses extrafloral nectaries that provide antiherbivore insects with a nutrient source in return for protecting the foliage. The fruit is too bitter to be of interest to man; however, it is a favored food supply for many animals, which spread the seeds. Dian Fossey reports of the mountain gorilla: "The northwestern slopes of Visoke offered several ridges of ''Pygeum africanum'' .... The fruits of this tree are highly favored by gorillas." ''East African Mammals'' reports that stands of ''Pygeum'' are the habitat of the rare Carruther's mountain squirrel and asserts, "This forest type tends to have a rather broken canopy with many trees smothered in climbers and dense tangles of undergrowth." It is currently protected under appendix II of CITES〔http://www.cites.org/eng/app/e-appendices.pdf〕 and in South Africa under the National Forest Act (Act 84) of 1998.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Protected Trees )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Prunus africana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|