''Afromorus mesozygia'', known as black mulberry or African mulberry, is the only species in the genus ''Afromorus''. The plant is a small- to medium-sized forest tree of

Tropical Africa The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

. Its leaves and fruit provide food for the

mantled guereza The mantled guereza (''Colobus guereza''), also known simply as the guereza, the eastern black-and-white colobus, or the Abyssinian black-and-white colobus, is a black-and-white colobus, a type of Old World monkey. It is native to much of west ...

, a

colobus Black-and-white colobuses (or colobi) are Old World monkeys of the genus ''Colobus'', native to Africa. They are closely related to the red colobus monkeys of genus '' Piliocolobus''. There are five species of this monkey, and at least eight subs ...

monkey native to much of Tropical Africa, and for the common

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

of West and Central Africa. It is also a commercial hardwood. The trees can be found in Ngogo in

Kibale National Park Kibale National Park is a national park in western Uganda, protecting moist evergreen rainforest. It is in size and ranges between and in elevation. Despite encompassing primarily moist evergreen forest, it contains a diverse array of landsca ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, where they are a food source for chimpanzees.

Description

''Afromorus mesozygia'' is a dioecuous tree that can grow up to 35 m tall, the bark is smooth, greyish in color with irregular white patches. The slash is yellow exuding a white latex. Leaves are

distichous In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature. Leaf arrangement The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alternat ...

, the stipules are

caducous Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that op ...

and up to 10 mm long. Surface of leaflets has a leathery or papery look, the leaflets are elliptical to broadly ovate in shape and tend to be between 3-13 cm long and 2-8 cm wide with a margin that is serrate to crenate. The apex is acuminate to acute and base is cordate. Inflorescence is an axillary spike and the fruit is drupe like.

Distribution and habitat

Occurs in Tropical Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia and southwards to

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

in South Africa. Found in rain and deciduous forests.

Uses

The species is sometimes cultivated as a shade tree or for ornamental purposes. Leaves and stem bark extracts are used in decoctions for pain management. The fruit is edible and eaten in various communities and the foliage are fodder for animals. Wood obtained from the species is used for carpentry work and also gathered for use as firewood.

References

External links

Flora of West Tropical Africa Fruits originating in Africa Trees of Africa Moraceae genera Monotypic Rosales genera Moraceae {{Moraceae-stub