''Trichilia emetica'' is a tree in the family
Meliaceae
Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales.
They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncar ...
, commonly known as the Natal mahogany. It is an evergreen tree, with handsome glossy dark green leaves and a wide spreading crown. Its sweet-scented flowers attract bees and birds.
Subspecies
''Trichilia emetica'' has two subspecies, ''emetica'' and ''suberosa''. ''T. emetica'' ssp. ''emetica'' is restricted to
southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
, while ''suberosa'' occur northwards of the
Zambezi River.
Distribution
These trees are found in riverine vegetation and open woodland from
KwaZulu-Natal Province of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
to
Tropical Africa
Although tropical Africa is mostly familiar to the West for its rainforests, this biogeographic realm of Africa is far more diverse. While the tropics are thought of as regions with hot moist climates, which are caused by latitude and the trop ...
.
Description
''Trichilia emetica'' is an evergreen, medium to large tree, up to 25 m high, with separate male and female plants. It has a dense, spreading crown. Leaflets are dark glossy green above, tips more or less rounded or broadly pointed, lower surface sparsely to densely hairy with principal side veins in 11–18 closely spaced pairs.
Flowers are creamy green and sweetly scented. ''Trichilia emetica'' flowers in August to November.
The fruit is a dehiscent capsule, 18–25 mm in diameter, sharply differentiated from a 5–10 mm long neck. The seeds are black and almost completely enveloped by a bright red aril.
The fruit is an
emetic
Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose.
Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenteritis ...
, hence the taxonomic name of the plant.
Gallery
Image:Trichilia_emetica_seeds.JPG, Seeds
Image:Trichilia_emetica_fruit.JPG, Fruit and seed
Image:Trichilia_emetica_new_leaf.JPG, Leaves
Image:Trichilia emetica.JPG, Seeds and compound leaf (showing insect damage)
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5243595
emetica