''Spondias tefyi'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the cashew family,

Anacardiaceae The Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the cashew family or sumac family, are a family of flowering plants, including about 83 genera with about 860 known species. Members of the Anacardiaceae bear fruits that are drupes and in some cases produce ...

.''Spondias tefyi'' J.D.Mitch., Daly & Randrian.
''Plants of the World Online'', Kew Science. Accessed 19 November 2022. It is endemic to

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 ...

, and is the only known species of genus ''

Spondias ''Spondias'' is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. The genus consists of 17 described species, 7 of which are native to the Neotropics and about 10 are native to tropical Asia. They are commonly named hog plums, Spa ...

'' native to the island.Mitchell, J. D., Daly, D. C., & Randrianasolo, A. (2012). The first report of Spondias native to Madagascar: Spondias tefyi, sp. nov. (Anacardiaceae). ''Brittonia'', 64(3), 263–267. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23254063

Description

''Spondias tefyi'' is a deciduous tree, reaching 10 to 15 meters in height, with a trunk diameter up to 60 cm. It flowers in November, and fruits between December and May.

Range and habitat

''Spondias tefyi'' is endemic to southwestern Madagascar, where it is known from eight locations on Analavelona Massif, in

Zombitse ''Zombitse-Vohibasia'' is a national park in the Atsimo-Andrefana region of south-west Madagascar. It is north-east of the town of Toliara, the site of the nearest airport, and the Welcome Office is at Sakaraha from the park entrance. The park c ...

forest, and at Marofandiliha. The species' estimated

extent of occurrence Extent may refer to: Computing * Extent (file systems), a contiguous region of computer storage medium reserved for a file * Extent File System, a discontinued file system implementation named after the contiguous region * Extent, a chunk of st ...

(EOO) is 10,218 km², and its estimated

area of occupancy Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open s ...

(AOO) is 56 km². It occurs from 400 to 1100 meters elevation. On the Analavelona Massif it is found in subhumid forest between 817 and 1050 meters elevation. In Zombitse it is found in dry deciduous forest above 400 meters elevation.

Etymology

The species name ''tefyi'' honors Tefy Andriamihajarivo, who first realized that the trees found at Analavelona constituted a new species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18074068 tefyi Endemic flora of Madagascar Plants described in 2012 Flora of the Madagascar subhumid forests Flora of the Madagascar succulent woodlands