''Mundulea sericea'', the cork bush, is an attractive shrub or small tree which is found in relatively open woodlands of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

. It is the only member of the genus with a range extending beyond

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, and it resembles some African shrubs in the related genus ''

Tephrosia ''Tephrosia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It is widespread in both the Eastern and Western Hemisphere, where it is found in tropical and warm-temperate regions. The generic name is derived from the Greek word τεφ ...

''.

Range

The species occurs commonly in

, southern to central Africa,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. At its southern limit it is found in northern

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 ...

and northwards of the

Vaal River The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Oce ...

, South Africa.Algemene gids tot BOME. Keith, Paul & Meg Coates Palgrave. 2000. ISBN 1-86872-527-8 It has a preference for rocky slopes but is also found in savanna. Two subspecies are recognized. * ''Mundulea sericea'' subsp. ''madagascariensis'' (syn. ''Mundulea striata'') – endemic to Madagascar * ''Mundulea sericea'' subsp. ''sericea'' – mainland tropical Africa, India, and Sri Lanka

Description

The compound, alternate leaves are covered in silky hairs. The

papilionaceous flower Papilionaceous flowers (from Latin: ''papilion'', a butterfly) are flowers with the characteristic irregular and butterfly-like corolla found in many, though not all, plants of the species-rich Faboideae subfamily of legumes. Tournefort suggest ...

s are

mauve Mauve ( ; ) is a pale purple color named after the mallow flower (French: ). The first use of the word ''mauve'' as a color was in 1796–1798 according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', but its use seems to have been rare before 1859. ...

to purple in colour. The seed pods are up to 8 cm long, and are covered in golden brown, velvety hairs. These hairs turn grey with time, and the pods may remain on the tree up to the next flowering season, or longer. The bark of the stem and main branches is deeply grooved and corky, and contains the poison

rotenone Rotenone is an odorless, colorless, crystalline isoflavone. It occurs naturally in the seeds and stems of several plants, such as the jicama vine, and in the roots of several other members of the Fabaceae. It was the first-described member of the ...

. The leaves are however browsed by animals.

Gallery

Mundulea sericea subsp. sericea 1613.jpg, Mundulea sericea subsp. sericea 1DS-II 4-3296.jpg, Mundulea sericea subsp. sericea 2828.jpg,

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13035237 Trees of Africa Millettieae