Tapura ivorensis

Tapura ivorensis

Kingdom	Plantae
Phylum	Streptophyta
Class	Equisetopsida
Order	Malpighiales
Family	Dichapetalaceae
Genus	Tapura

Other Relevant Info:

https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:316410-1

IUCN:

Vulnerable

CITES:

Bole and Bark:

Reaching up to 30 meters in height, T. ivorensis has a straight, unbranched trunk. Its diameter ranges from 2 to 4.75 meters, and it is usually branchless for a large portion of its length. The bole is straight and crisp, sometimes fluted and frequently with little buttresses. A broad horizontal canopy of uniformly spaced foliage emerges from the tip of the straight bole of mature trees, which have a flat-topped crown. When young and on branchlets, the bark is smooth and light gray to dark brown. The bark of mature trees flakes off in long, thin strips and turns blackish with large longitudinal fractures. The inner bark is yellow.

Leaves and flowers:

It has simple, alternating leaves that are 2.5–6 cm wide and 6.4–12.7 cm long. The leaves contain six to seven pairs of widely spaced veins and are round with blunt ends. The borders are complete, which means they have no lobes or teeth and are smooth. The leaves have a green upper surface and a pale green underside. There are a few hairs on the leaves, particularly on the veins. The flowers are borne in axillary spikes that are 7.6 to 10.2 cm long. The lower receptacle is densely tomentose, while the upper receptacle is less so. The flowers are bisexual and nearly to the apex of the spike. Each flower measures approximately 6–7.5 cm in length and 7.5–9 cm in width. The calyx is tubular and cylindrical with five teeth, while the corolla is a narrow cylindrical tube about 15 mm long with five short spreading lobes. The flowers have numerous threadlike white stamens.

Fruits and Seeds:

The fruit has wings and varies slightly in size, particularly in the wings' width. It is 5.8–10 cm long and 1.7–2 cm wide, elongated and narrow, emarginate and slightly decurrent. The fruit has a pedicel that is 7–11 mm long and is delicately tomentose with extremely short reddish or orange-brown hairs. It is woody, reddish-brown, and often has a weevil hole when ripe. Located in the core of the fruit, the oval seeds have a diameter of around 1.5 cm.