Pycnanthus angolensis
| Pycnanthus angolensis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Magnoliales |
| Family: | Myristicaceae |
| Genus: | Pycnanthus |
| Species: | P. angolensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Pycnanthus angolensis (Welw.) Warb. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Pycnanthus angolensis is a species of tree in the nutmeg family, Myristicaceae. It is native to Tropical Africa. Its English language common names include African nutmeg, false nutmeg, boxboard, and cardboard. In Africa it is widely known as ilomba.
This evergreen tree grows up to 40 meters tall and usually up to a meter wide, sometimes up to 1.5 meters or more. The trunk is straight and cylindrical with fissures and flaking bark. The sap is honey-colored and turns red in time. The branches are in whorls. The leathery leaves are up to 31 centimeters long by 9 wide. The blades have pointed tips, heart-shaped bases, and thick midribs. They are hairless on top and coated with rusty, feltlike hairs on the undersides. The leaves usually bear signs of insect damage, a feature so common it is considered characteristic of the species. The flowers are arranged in dense, rusty panicles up to 15 centimeters long. The individual flowers are difficult to see in the tight panicle until the stamens develop, being only about a millimeter long. The flowers are hairy and fragrant. The fruit is a rounded drupe reaching over 3 centimeters long and wide, borne in clusters. It is hairy brown when new, turning yellow-orange, and has cartilaginous flesh that dries woody. It contains a black seed with a red aril which resembles that of nutmeg. The fruit ripens over a long period continuing into the next flowering season, which begins around October.
The tree grows in moist rainforests up to about 1200 meters in elevation among other evergreens and semideciduous trees. It occurs in secondary forest, sometimes taking hold in new canopy gaps or clearings. It thrives in sunny locations. It grows in riparian forests such as gallery forests, and in some regions it can be found in swamps. It occurs in areas receiving between about 1300 and 1800 millimeters of rain per year, but the optimal seems to be about 2000 millimeters.
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Wikipedia