''Englerophytum magalismontanum'', commonly known as stamvrug, is an evergreen tree that mostly grows in rocky places. It has an extensive range, from northern

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

northwards along the east coast and into the southern African interior, and northwards into tropical Africa.

Nomenclature

''E. magalismontanum'' was at various times in the past known under the names ''Bequaertiodendron magalismontanum'' (see: J. C. Bequaert), ''Pouteria magalismontana'' and ''Chrysophyllum magalismontanum''. The specific name refers to the

Magaliesberg The Magaliesberg (historically also known as ''Macalisberg'' or ''Cashan Mountains'') of northern South Africa, is a modest but well-defined mountain range composed mainly of quartzites. It rises at a point south of the Pilanesberg (and the Pil ...

from where the species was first described, and where it commonly occurs.

Description

This tree is usually known by its Afrikaans name ''stamvrug'' ("stem fruit") which refers to its habit of bearing densely clustered fruit on the trunk and thicker branches (

cauliflory Cauliflory is a botanical term referring to plants that flower and fruit from their main stems or woody trunks, rather than from new growth and shoots. This can allow trees to be pollinated or have their seeds dispersed by animals that climb o ...

), a common feature of this family. The fruit are tasty and sweet with very little pink flesh - they are rich in latex and are leathery-skinned. The seed is large, smooth and hard, and is covered with a soft membrane. Their bisexual flowers are similarly crowded on the trunk and branches, and smell strongly of fermenting honey. Stamvrug trees at maturity may range from 1 metre tall on exposed dip slopes with very limited soil where they are prone to stunting by fire, to about 15 metres in the shelter of kloofs (gorges) with ample water and deep soil. Crowns are densely leafy and rounded, branched almost to the base, with leaves crowded at ends of branches, densely covered in golden-brown velvety hairs below, and often with a whitish indumentum above.

Relationships and associated species

The species is a larval food plant for the butterfly ''

Pseudacraea boisduvali ''Pseudacraea boisduvali'', or Boisduval's false acraea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It has an extensive range which includes much of the tropics and subtropics of sub-Saharan Africa. Description left, 230px, Male and female of t ...

trimeni''. It is closely related to ''

Englerophytum natalense ''Englerophytum natalense'', the silver-leaf milkplum, is a medium-sized, evergreen tree that occurs along forested escarpments from East Africa to South Africa. The leaves are alternately arranged or spiralled, and to some extent crowded near t ...

'' (Sond.) T.D.Penn. and ''

Mimusops zeyheri ''Mimusops zeyheri'' is a medium-sized (up to 15m) evergreen tree belonging to the family Sapotaceae and widely distributed in rocky places from the east coast of southern Africa, inland and northwards to tropical Africa. It is commonly known a ...

'' Sond. and is often found in association with the latter. It belongs to the family

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology), order Ericales. The family includes about 800 species of ev ...

with some 35 genera and 600 odd species, that are mostly trees with leathery, entire leaves. The family is present throughout the tropics and subtropics. They are rich in latex and yield substances like

gutta-percha Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus ''Palaquium'' in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex derived from the tree, particularly from ' ...

and

balatá ''Manilkara bidentata'' is a species of ''Manilkara'' native to a large area of northern South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Common names include bulletwood, balatá, ausubo, massaranduba, quinilla, and (ambiguously) " cow-tree". D ...

Gallery

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q3642237 magalismontanum Trees of South Africa Flora of Mozambique