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M. oleifera is a small, fast-growing, drought-deciduous tree or shrub, often 8-10 m tall, sometimes to 12-18 m. It has a wide-open, typically umbrella-shaped crown, usually with a single clear bole, with smooth, light coloured or greyish-green bark. It tends to be deep-rooted (Dalla Rosa, 1993). Leaves imparipinnate, rachis 12-25 cm long, pubescent, 2-6 pairs of pinna 3-6 mm long, each with 3-5 pairs of pale green, obovate leaflets 1-2 cm long, terminal leaflets slightly larger, basal leaflet pairs sometime tripinnate (von Maydell, 1986). The foliage is light and moves in the slightest breeze giving light shade. The description by ICFRE (1995) of M. oleifera from India differs in part from that of African M. oleifera by von Maydell (1986), with more pairs of pinna (5-10 pairs) and leaflets (6-9 pairs). Sweet-scented flowers, cream white, arranged in panicles, with 5 unequal petals slightly larger than the sepals (von Maydell, 1986), yellow dots at the base (Vogt, 1996), petals narrowly spathulate, veined, white, bracts linear, calyx 5-lobed, linear-lanceolate, reflexed, puberulous outside, 5 stamens, fertile alternating with 5-7 staminodes, filaments villous at the base, ovary 1-celled, oblong, villous, ovules many, style slender (ICFRE, 1995). The long, pointed and triangular cross-section fruits are very distinctive, up to 1-2 cm broad, often 30-50 cm long, up to 120 cm long in some cultivated varieties, containing oily black seeds up to 1 cm in diameter in a typical 3-winged seed coat. Unripe green pods are somewhat fleshy, becoming fibrous and greyish when mature, persistent on the tree. In India, trees shed leaves in December-January followed by regrowth in February-March;flowering is in January-March with ripe fruits in April-June, but all year round in irrigated conditions (ICFRE, 1995).

Related crop

  • Rosa

Related invasive species

  • Yellows

Related Farm Practice

  • Light
  • Drought

Related location

  • India
Has Cabi datasheet ID
34868
Oss tagged
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