''Monodora junodii'' 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

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as ''Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (''The Natural Plant Families''), edited with ...

and

Ludwig Diels Friedrich Ludwig Emil Diels (24 September 1874 – 30 November 1945) was a German botanist. Diels was born in Hamburg, the son of the classical scholar Hermann Alexander Diels. From 1900 to 1902 he traveled together with Ernst Georg Pritzel thro ...

, the German botanists who first formally described the species, named it after

Henri-Alexandre Junod Henri-Alexandre Junod (17 June 1863 in Saint-Martin, Val-de-Ruz – 22 April 1934 in Geneva) was a Swiss-born South African missionary, ethnographer, anthropologist, linguist and naturalist, stationed for much of his career at Shiluvane mission ...

, the Swiss missionary and scientist who collected the specimen that they examined.

Description

It is a tree reaching 7 meters in height. Its branches have

lenticels A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of gymnosperms and dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore ...

. Its leaves are 6.5–16.5 by 3–5.5 centimeters and come to a point at their tips. The leaves are smooth on their upper and lower surfaces. Its petioles are 1–6 millimeters long. Its pendulous flowers are odorless, solitary and

axillary Axillary means "related to the axilla (armpit)" or "related to the leaf axils". "Axillary" may refer to: Biology * Axillary artery * Axillary border * Axillary fascia * Axillary feathers * Axillary hairs * Axillary lines * Axillary lymph nodes ...

or extra-axillary. Each flower is on a

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 ...

0.8–2 centimeters long. Its flowers have 3 slightly hairy, green

sepals 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'' ...

that are 5–10 millimeters longwith rounded tips. Its 6 petals are arranged in two rows of 3. The outer petals are 2–3.5 by 1.6–2.7 centimeters and yellow when young, but turning puce or purple when mature. The inner petals are similarly colored, have a 0.7–1.0 centimeter long

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 ...

at their base and a 1–1.6 by 1.4–2.1 centimeter wide blade. The inner petals are hairy with the exception of the upper side of the claw. Its

stamens 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 filamen ...

are 0.5 millimeters long. Its wrinkled, smooth fruit are globe shaped and 4–5 centimeters in diameter and are greenish-grey with brown highlights. Its light yellow-brown, flat, oval-shaped seeds are 1.5–2 centimeters long.

Reproductive biology

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

Habitat and distribution

It has been observed growing in sandy soil in lowland and evergreen forests at elevations from 0–900 meters.

References

junodii Flora of Swaziland Flora of Kenya Flora of Malawi Flora of South Africa Flora of Tanzania Flora of Zimbabwe Plants described in 1899 Taxa named by Adolf Engler Taxa named by Ludwig Diels {{annonaceae-stub