''Sideroxylon mirmulano'', commonly known as marmulano, is a species of flowering plants in the family

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology)">order Ericales">family (biology)">family of flowering plants belonging to th ...

. It is endemic to the

Madeira Islands Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of the Canary Islands, Spain, wes ...

(

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

). It is threatened by

habitat loss 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 ...

Description

It is an evergreen high tree. Its leathery, elliptic leaves are long and wide. Its flowers are whitish rose to purple with 5 petals measuring up to . Its fruit is a drupe, long.

Distribution and habitat

The species is found on

Madeira Island Madeira is a Portuguese island, and is the largest and most populous of the Madeira Archipelago. It has an area of , including Ilhéu de Agostinho, Ilhéu de São Lourenço, Ilhéu Mole (northwest). As of 2021, Madeira had a total population o ...

Porto Santo Island Porto Santo Island () is a Portuguese island and municipality northeast of Madeira Island in the North Atlantic Ocean; it is the northernmost and easternmost island of the archipelago of Madeira, located in the Atlantic Ocean west of Europe a ...

and

Desertas Islands The Desertas Islands (, , "Deserted Islands") are a small archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the larger Portuguese Madeira Archipelago. The archipelago is located off the coast of Morocco. Deserta Grande Island is located about southea ...

. It is the dominant species in low coastal forests along the northern shore of Madeira from elevation, and in pockets on the southern side of the island between 200 and 300 meters elevation. It is commonly found with the shrubs '' Maytenus umbellata'' and ''

Globularia salicina ''Globularia salicina'' is a shrub native to the archipelago of Madeira and to the central and western Canary Islands. Description Erect shrub up to 2 m high with slender branches. Leaves 3.5-7 x 0.5–3 cm, alternate, narrowly to broadly l ...

''.Capelo, Jorge, Miguel Sequeira, Roberto Jardim, Sandra Mesquita, and José Carlos Costa (2005). "The vegetation of Madeira Island (Portugal). A brief overview and excursion guide". ''Quercetea'' 7: 95-122, 2005 ALFA, Lisboa, Portugal.

Systematics

The former subspecies ''marginata'' from Cape Verde is now considered a separate species: '' Sideroxylon marginatum''. Plants from the Canary Islands are now considered '' Sideroxylon canariense''.

Description

Distribution and habitat

Systematics

References

Further reading