Trilepisium
{{Short description|Genus of trees}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Urnfigs
| image = Trilepisium madagascariense00.jpg
| image_caption = T. madagascariense
| taxon = Trilepisium
| authority = Thouars (1806)
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
- Trilepisium gymnandrum {{small|(Baker) J.Gerlach}}
- Trilepisium madagascariense {{small|DC.}}
| subdivision_ref = [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:27170-1 Trilepisium Thouars]. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
| synonyms =
- Bosqueia {{small|Thouars ex Baill. (1863)}}
- Pontya {{small|A.Chev. (1909)}}
}}
Trilepisium, the urnfigs or false-figs, is a small Afrotropical genus of plants in family Moraceae. They grow to medium-sized or large trees that occur in evergreen and semi-deciduous forests, flooded forests or forest patches and often along rivers and streams, and at elevations of up to 2,000 m and over.
Description
The bole may be 60 cm wide, and is often fluted at the base.{{cite web |title=Trilepisium madagascariense DC. |url=http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/details.php?langue=fr&id=24602|website=Base de données des plantes d'Afrique |publisher=Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques & SANBI |date = 2012 | accessdate=19 November 2014}} The smooth, grey bark is very lenticellate{{cite web |last1=Jongkind |first1=C.|title=Trilepisium madagascariense |url=http://www.liberianfaunaflora.org/FFI/Plant.aspx?p=30&ix=695&pid=3004&prcid=0&ppid=3004&family=&species=&habit=-1&fern=0&habitat=0&geog=-1&iucn=0 |website=Fauna and Flora of Liberia |accessdate=19 November 2014|display-authors=etal}} and exudes a cream-coloured latex when damaged. The yellowish to pinkish slash turns purple-red as it dries. They usually branch high up to form a small and loosely pyramidal crown with drooping twigs. Stipules of terminal buds eventually leave annular scars.
The glossy and very dark elliptic leaves have a prominent driptip, and measure up to 14 cm long. They are glossy below, and have two small lobes at the base.
The flowers appear in spring and are arranged in a whitish to mauve puff.{{cite web |last1=Hyde |first1=M.|title=Trilepisium madagascariense DC. |url=http://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=120200 |website=Flora of Zimbabwe |accessdate=19 November 2014|display-authors=etal}} The puff is about 1 cm in diameter, and consists of staminate male flowers and pistillate female flowers, without perianths, which obscure the view of the receptacle.{{cite web|last1=Robertson|first1=Hamish|title=Trilepisium madagascariense (Urn-fig) |url=http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/plants/moraceae/trilepisium_madagascariense.htm |website=Biodiversity explorer |publisher=Iziko Museums |accessdate=19 November 2014}} The flowers protrude from the open apex of an urn-shaped receptacle which is about 1.5 cm long.
The fig-like fruit, embedded in the fleshy receptacles, are some 2 cm long. They are ellipsoidal in shape and hold a nutlet each. Ripe fruit have the appearance of blue plums.
Species
The two species are distinguished on floral characteristics:{{cite iucn |author=Baguette, F. |author2=Baboorun, T. |author3=Harryba, S. |author4=Senterre, B. |author5=Beech, E. |date=2018 |title=Trilepisium gymnandrum |volume=2018 |page=e.T44005A127865223 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T44005A127865223.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}
- Trilepisium gymnandrum (Baker) J.Gerlach – Silhouette Island, Seychelles
- Trilepisium madagascariense DC. – African mainland, Madagascar and Annobón island
Uses and species associations
The wood of T. madagascariense is suitable for furniture, and the sap yields a red dye. Its roasted seeds are eaten and it is sometimes cultivated. A methanol extract, fractions and isoliquiritigenin from T. madagascariense stem bark has been shown to possess antidiarrheal activities,{{cite journal |last1=Kuiate |first1=Jules-Roger |last2=Kuete |first2=Victor |last3=Teponno |first3=Remy Bertrand |last4=Tapondjou |first4=Leon Azefack |last5=Vilarem |first5=Gerard |last6=Teke |first6=Gerald Ngo |title=Antidiarrheal activity of extracts and compound from Trilepisium madagascariense stem bark |journal=Indian Journal of Pharmacology |date=2010 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=157–63 |doi=10.4103/0253-7613.66839 |pmid=20871767 |pmc=2937317 |doi-access=free }} and previously unknown trilepisflavan and trilepisuimic acid compounds were isolated from it in 2012.{{cite journal |last1=Ango|first1=Patrick Y.|last2=Kapche|first2=Deccaux W.F.G. |last3=Kuete |first3=Victor|last4=Ngadjui|first4=Bonaventure T. |last5=Bezabih |first5=Merhatibeb |last6=Abegaz |first6=Berhanu M.|title=Chemical constituents of Trilepisium madagascariense (Moraceae) and their antimicrobial activity|journal=Phytochemistry Letters|date=September 2012 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=524–528 |doi=10.1016/j.phytol.2012.05.006 |bibcode=2012PChL....5..524A }}
Trilepisium madagascariense is a larval foodplant for the butterfly Cyrestis camillus sublineata.{{cite book|last=Van Wyk |first=Braam|title=Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa |year=1997 |publisher=Struik |location=Cape Town |isbn=978-1-86825-922-9 |page=82|display-authors=etal}} On the Seychelles the seeds are likely dispersed by frugivorous birds and fruit bats, but the pollinators are unknown.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1324075}}
{{Moraceae genera}}
Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot