''Microberlinia bisulcata'' is a species of plant in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

, a lowland rainforest tree that is found only in

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 ...

. It is threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and exploitation. Common names include African zebrawood, tigerwood, zebrano and zingana.

Description

''Microberlinia bisulcata'' is a tall forest tree, growing to a height of up to with massive

buttress root Buttress roots, also known as plank roots or stilt roots, are large, wide roots on all sides of a shallowly rooted tree. Typically, they are found in nutrient-poor tropical forest soils that may not be very deep. They may prevent the tree from fa ...

s, and towering above the canopy. The lower half of the cylindrical trunk is devoid of branches. The leaves are small and the flowers are pea-like. The roots have an

ectomycorrhiza An ectomycorrhiza (from Greek ἐκτός ', "outside", μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; ectomycorrhizas or ectomycorrhizae, abbreviated EcM) is a form of symbiotic relationship that occurs between a fungal symbiont, or mycobio ...

l association with fungi in the soil.

Distribution and habitat

''Microberlinia bisulcata'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to southwestern Cameroon. It is present in

Korup National Park Korup National Park is in the Southwest Province of Cameroon and extends over 1,260 km2 of mostly undisturbed primary forest. It is reputedly one of Africa's oldest and richest tropical forests in terms of floral and faunal diversity. It is ...

, Loum Forest Reserve and on the northern and western foothills of

Mount Cameroon Mount Cameroon is an active volcano in the Southwest Region of Cameroon next to the city of Buea near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako (the name of the higher of its two peaks) or by its indigenous ...

. Records from elsewhere are unreliable. It occurs in lowland rainforest, typically in flat sandy areas.

Uses

This tree is harvested for its valuable timber. The

sapwood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin that ...

is thick and clearly demarcated from the heartwood, which is pale yellow to light tan with dark streaks. The wood texture is coarse and the

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

interlocking. The wood is moderately durable and is used for

turnery Woodturning is the craft of using a wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. Like the potter's wheel, the wood lathe is a mechanism that can generate a variety of forms. The operator is kno ...

, furniture-making and cabinet-making; it can be used to make objects such as tool handles, panelling and veneers. It is resistant to tunneling insects and moderately resistant to

termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...

s and wood-rotting fungi.

Status

''Microberlinia bisulcata'' is selectively felled for its timber and is threatened by habitat loss, with the forest being cleared to make way for agricultural land,

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

plantations and oil extraction. It has been extirpated from part of its range in the foothills of Mount Cameroon, and is threatened by illegal logging in the forest reserve, but should be secure in Korup National Park. Altogether, the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

considers the tree to be

Critically Endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

. Conservation efforts include collecting seeds, establishing tree nurseries and planting saplings in selected locations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1938898 Detarioideae Trees of Africa Endemic flora of Cameroon Critically endangered plants Plants described in 1946 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Auguste Chevalier