''Moringa hildebrandtii'', or Hildebrandt's moringa, is a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

with a massive, water-storing trunk in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Moringaceae ''Moringa'' is the sole genus in the plant family Moringaceae. It contains 13 species from tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia that range in size from tiny herbs to massive trees. ''Moringa'' species grow quickly in many types of ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, where it is extinct in the wild, but preserved by indigenous horticulture practices. The plant originally was thought to grow along the west coast of Madagascar, but ethnobotany data suggest it in fact grew in the island's extreme southwest.

Description

The plant's water-storing trunk grows up to 20 m. Its leaves are pinnate, compound, and can reach 1 m long. The leaf rachis and stem tips of young plants are distinctively deep red. Leaves spread around the trunk in an umbrella-like fashion. The small ivory-white flowers are borne in large sprays. Fruits are up to 50 cm long and contain 6 to 12 large nut-shaped seeds in a hard, light brown shell.

Rediscovery

In an article in ''Cactus World'' (the quarterly journal of the British Cactus and Succulent Society) the authors claimed to have rediscovered a population of ''M. hildebrandtii'' in the wild.J. B. Castillon & J. P. Castillon March 2007. ''Cactus World''. The recent discovery of the first wild population of ''Moringa hildebrandtii'' (Moringaceae) in Madagascar

References

External links

Mnhn.fr: " ''Moringa hildebrandtii'' — a tree extinct in the wild"
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3022293 hildebrandtii Endemic flora of Madagascar Trees of Madagascar Taxa named by George Engelmann