''Monodora angolensis'' 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 ...

in the family

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest ...

. It is native to

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

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 ...

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

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 ...

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

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 ...

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 ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

Friedrich Welwitsch Friedrich Martin Josef Welwitsch (25 February 1806 – 20 October 1872) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian exploration, explorer and botany, botanist who in Angola was the first European to describe the plant ''Welwitschia, Welwitschia mirabilis ...

, the Austrian botanist who first

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

the species, named it after

where he found it growing near the town of

Pungo-Andongo Pungo-Andongo is a town and commune of Angola, located in the province of Malanje. Pungo Andongo was the capital of the Kingdom of Ndongo during its decline. In 1671 the Portuguese besieged and captured the city, enslaving many of its inhabitan ...

Description

It is a tree reaching 20 meters in height with grey to black, furrowed bark. Its mature branches are hairless and have

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the Bark (botany), bark of woody stems and roots of gymnosperms and dicotyledonous flowering plants. It func ...

s. Its hairless, papery to leathery, oval to elliptical leaves are 4–20 by 2-7.5 centimeters. The tips of the leaves taper to a point and the bases are blunt or wedge-shaped. The leaves have 8-16 pairs of secondary veins emanating from their midribs. Its hairless petioles are 2–10 by 1 millimeters and have a groove on their upper surface. It has solitary flowers, positioned opposite from leaves, that hang down. Each flower is born on a hairless, light green

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

that is 8–80 by 0.5-0.8. The pedicels have an upper, hairless, oval, green to red-brown

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

that is 4–17 by 3-12 millimeters. The base of the bract partially wraps the pedicel and its edges are wavy. It has 3 oval, hairless

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s are 4–15 by 2-6 millimeters. The sepals are green with red and purple speckles. The sepals have flat bases, pointed tips and wavy edges. Its flowers have 6 petals in two rows of three. The outer petals are white at their base, transitioning to reddish brown with yellow spots near their tips. The, hairless, oblong to oval outer petals are 1.7-5.0 by 1.0-3.0 centimeters. The outer petals have flat bases, pointed tips and wavy margins. The heart-shaped to triangular inner petals are 4–11 by 5-16 millimeters and white with purple highlights. The inner petals have flat to heart-shaped bases and pointed to notched tips. The edges of the inner petals are straight and have dense curly hairs near their tips which mesh to form an arch. The inner petals have a basal

claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or Arthro ...

below the blade that is 3–9 by 2-6 millimeters. Its flowers have 9-11 rows of

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

that are 0.7-1 millimeters long. The stamen filaments extend above the anthers to form a shield. Its

carpels Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ...

are fused forming an ovary wall that is 1-1.5 by 0.8 millimeters. Its hairless stigma are 0.9-1.2 millimeters in diameter. The fruit are born on a hairless, woody

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branch ...

that is 2.5-8.5 by 5-7 millimeters. The hairless, oval to round fruit are 3.5-8 by 3.5-5 centimeters with a pointed tip. The fruit are finely wrinkled and green with white spots. The fruit have white pulp with elliptical, smooth seeds that are 9–13 by 5-8 millimeters.

Reproductive biology

The pollen of ''M. angolensis'' is shed as permanent tetrads.

Habitat and distribution

It has been observed growing in a variety of forest types at elevations from 0-1800 meters.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15363532

angolensis This list of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names is intended to help those unfamiliar with classical languages to understand and remember the scientific names of organisms. The binomial nomenclature used for animals and plants ...

Flora of Angola Flora of Cameroon Flora of the Central African Republic Flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Flora of Equatorial Guinea Flora of Gabon Flora of Ivory Coast Flora of Nigeria Flora of the Republic of the Congo Flora of Sudan Flora of Tanzania Flora of Uganda Flora of Zambia Plants described in 1859 Taxa named by Friedrich Welwitsch