Tetrapleura Benth., J. Bot. (Hooker) 4: 345. 1841.
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publication ID |
https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.240.101716 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03406891-8C4C-6087-B380-895A7DF76A31 |
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scientific name |
Tetrapleura Benth., J. Bot. (Hooker) 4: 345. 1841. |
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Tetrapleura Benth., J. Bot. (Hooker) 4: 345. 1841. View in CoL
Figs 104 View Figure 104 , 105 View Figure 105 , 106 View Figure 106 , 108 View Figure 108
Type.
Tetrapleura thonningii Benth., nom. illeg. [= Tetrapleura tetraptera (Schumach. & Thonn.) Taub. (≡ Adenanthera tetraptera Schumach. & Thonn.)]
Description.
Unarmed trees or shrubs 8-25 m tall (Fig. 104D View Figure 104 ), to 60-90 cm in diameter, usually lacking buttresses but occasionally with short, sharp buttresses; bark smooth, dark brown, very thin, slightly spongy; brachyblasts absent. Stipules not observed. Leaves bipinnate, 10-40 cm long, foliar glands absent; pinnae 2-10 (15) pairs per leaf, opposite to subopposite; leaflets alternate, 6-26 per pinna, petiolulate. Inflorescences of solitary or paired spiciform axillary racemes, 5-10 cm long (Fig. 105C View Figure 105 ), usually borne on older wood and immersed in the foliage, but the leaves sometimes suppressed and the racemes forming a pseudopanicle. Flowers hermaphrodite, pedicellate, the pedicel abscising with the flowers, small persistent triangular bracts at the base of each flower; calyx conical, shallow, 5-toothed, valvate in bud; petals 5, free, linear-lanceolate, cream to pale pink aging orange-red, valvate in bud (Fig. 105B,C View Figure 105 ); stamens 10, free, slightly exserted above the petals, filaments white, anthers with a caducous apical gland; pollen in 16-grained calymmate polyads; ovary oblong, sessile, glabrous, stigma porate. Fruits straight, oblong, woody, indehiscent, 10-20 cm long, four-winged with flattened sutural ribs and longitudinal wings running down the centre of the valve (Fig. 106E View Figure 106 ), each wing to 1 cm broad, two of the wings filled with pulp, cruciform in cross-section, dark brown, pods internally septate between the seeds with spongy, fibrous endocarp. Seeds inserted transversely, brown, smooth, unwinged, testa hard, pleurogram present.
Chromosome number.
2 n = 26 ( Fedorov 1969).
Included species and geographic distribution.
Two species in tropical Africa, in the Guineo-Congolese forest from Senegal to Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya, south to Angola and Tanzania (Fig. 108 View Figure 108 ).
Ecology.
Common in secondary forest but growing best in undisturbed rainforest; high forest zones, riverine forests, southern savanna woodland, and as forest outliers in the African plains.
Etymology.
From the Greek, tetra (= four) and pleura (= ribs), referring to the four ribs on the fruits.
Human uses.
A valued forest species for its fragrant fruits and seeds which are used to season food. The fruits, seeds, leaves, and bark are all used in folk medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. The chemistry of the fruits has been studied and found to be a potential treatment for diabetes and to reduce inflammation ( Orwa et al. 2009; Kuate et al. 2015).
Notes.
Tetrapleura differs from Amblygonocarpus in Hoffmannseggia minor characters as described below under Amblygonocarpus . Although they might be treated as a single genus, the two genera tend to be ecologically distinct. Tetrapleura is a rainforest tree that only occasionally moves into the savanna as a forest outlier whereas Amblygonocarpus is a true inhabitant of savannas and deciduous forests.
Taxonomic references.
Brenan (1959) with illustration; Kemigisha et al. (2018).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
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