''Cassipourea malosana'' is a species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

native to tropical Africa.

Description

''Cassipourea malosana'' is an evergreen shrub or tree, growing to 25 or 30 meters in height, and occasionally up to 45 meters, with a rounded crown. The tree has a straight unbuttressed trunk which can be up to 60 cm in diameter and unbranched up to 20 meters from the ground. The bark is smooth and pale.Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2022-03-15. The leaves are

lanceolate The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

, 3 to 10 mm long and 1 to 5 mm wide, with a glossy upper surface and a matte underside.

Distribution and habitat

''Cassipourea malosana'' is native to the mountains of Eastern and Central Africa, from

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

through

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

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 ...

, the eastern

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

, and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. There is an outlier population in the

Cameroon Highlands The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mounta ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. ''Cassipourea malosana'' is found in dry

Afromontane The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions o ...

forests, often with African juniper (''Juniperus procera''), ''

Afrocarpus ''Afrocarpus'' is a genus of conifer of the family Podocarpaceae. Five species are recognized. They are evergreen trees native to Africa. ''Afrocarpus'' was designated a genus in 1989, when several species formerly classified in ''Podocarpus'' an ...

'' spp., ''

Podocarpus ''Podocarpus'' () is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family, the Podocarpaceae. ''Podocarpus'' species are evergreen shrubs or trees, usually from tall, known to reach at times. The cones have ...

'' spp., and ''

Olea ''Olea'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. It includes 12 species native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Middle East, southern Europe, Africa, southern Asia, and Australasia. They are evergreen trees and s ...

'' spp., and as an under-canopy tree in moist Afromontane forests. It is generally found between 1700 and 2600 meters elevation, and occasionally as low as 1100 meters.

Uses

The tree has fine and even-textured wood, and produces hard and heavy timber. It is exploited artisanally and commercially in East Africa, and is usually harvested from the wild. It is also used for firewood. The tree is occasionally grown as a shade or ornamental tree, and is planted in reforestation projects and for erosion control. Its flowers are a good source of nectar for bees. The bark has some local medicinal uses. It is cooked in soups to restore strength, made into a tea to help remove a placenta after birth, and applied to skin to treat skin ailments and sunburn and to lighten skin.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15121401 malosana Afromontane flora