''Monodora undulata'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

in the family

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest family in the Ma ...

. It is native to

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia,

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

Palisot de Beauvois Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot, Baron de Beauvois (27 July 1752, in Arras – 21 January 1820, in Paris) was a French naturalist and zoologist. Palisot collected insects in Oware, Benin, Saint Domingue, and the United States, from 17 ...

the botanist and entomologist who first formally described the species using the basionym ''Xylopia undulata'', named it after the wavy (''undulātus'', in Latin) margins of its petals.

Description

It is a tree reaching 20 meters in height. Its mature leathery leaves are 10-40 by 8-13 centimeters and come to a point at their tips. The leaves are smooth on their upper and lower surfaces. Its petioles are 5-10 millimeters long. Its pendulous flowers are solitary. Each flower is on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

30-55 millimeters long. Its flowers have 3 oval-shaped sepals that are 7-11 by 5-10 millimeters. The sepals are green and smooth on both sides with wavy margins and are arched backwards when mature. Its 6 petals are arranged in two rows of 3. The outer petals are white with yellow and purple highlights, 3-4.5 by 1.5-3.0 centimeters, and have very wavy margins. The outer petals are smooth on both sides. The inner petals are yellow with purple spots with margins that touch one another. The inner petals have a 2.-5 millimeter wide

claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tarsus ...

at their base and a 2-2.7 by 1.5-2 centimeter blade. The inner petals are smooth on their outer surface, and have 2-2.5 millimeter hairs on their inner surface. It has 12-14 rows of

stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

that are 1 millimeter long. Its ovoid fruit are 6-12 by 4-6 centimeters and brown and smooth. Its seeds are 9-20 by 6-11 millimeters.

Reproductive biology

The pollen of ''M. undulata'' is shed as permanent tetrads.

Habitat and distribution

It has been observed growing in swampy terrain and along rivers, in rain forests, at elevations from 0-700 meters.

References

Flora of Cameroon Flora of the Central African Republic Flora of Ghana Flora of Guinea Flora of Ivory Coast Flora of Liberia Flora of Nigeria Flora of Sierra Leone Plants described in 2008 Taxa named by Palisot de Beauvois undulata {{annonaceae-stub