Bois caf cafOrfilea neraudiana

Category
  • Forests
Tags
  • Mountain slopes and forests
  • Flora
  • Native

Description

This is a small tree reaching 6 meters in height, its trunk is 15 cm in diameter, with a brownish pink bark, which is quite smooth. The branches of this tree are usually grooved becoming hard due to the presence of lenticels and persistent protuberances from which the leaves originate. The leaves are sometimes grouped in a pseudo-whorl and its petiole (stalk) is usually 3-10cm long, is oval to elliptical at the tip, and generally obtuse or rounded at the base. The tree rarely blooms. Male inflorescence is usually clustered on branches that are thin and branched from the base. The female inflorescence is in pendulous clusters 7 cm long which also includes triangular lobes. The capsules produced are rounded, trilobed and 7 to 8 mm long.

Habitat and ecology

This species is usually found in humid forest and occasionally in the intermediate forest. Very rarely observed in bloom.

 

Conservation and threats

This species is considered ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List and the population size is declining due to habitat loss and the invasion of exotic species.

Did you know?

That Orfilea neraudiana was known as Claoxylon neraudianum by Marouette de Baillon in 1861