Protabase Record

Prota 7(2): Timbers/Bois d’œuvre 2
Record display

Stuhlmannia moavi Taub.

Protologue
Engl., Pflanzenw. Ost-Afrikas C: 201 (1895).
Family
Caesalpiniaceae (Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae)
Synonyms
Caesalpinia dalei Brenan & J.B.Gillett (1963), Caesalpinia insolita (Harms) Brenan & J.B.Gillett (1963).
Origin and geographic distribution
Stuhlmannia moavi occurs in coastal regions of southern Kenya and Tanzania, and also in northern Madagascar.
Uses
In Madagascar the wood is used for carpentry and furniture. The red dye from the glands on young twigs and leaves is occasionally used to colour parts of the body.
Properties
The heartwood is dark brown and very hard.
Botany
Small to medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall; bole up to 100 cm in diameter, often with buttresses at base; bark surface smooth to fissured, grey to brown, inner bark fibrous; twigs initially hairy but soon glabrous, with small red-brown glands. Leaves alternate, bipinnately compound with (1–)2–8 pairs of pinnae, rarely simple-pinnately compound; stipules and stipels absent; petiole and rachis together (1.5–)5–11(–20) cm long, with reddish glands; pinnae (1–) 3–9(–12) cm long, with 3–11 pairs of leaflets; leaflets opposite to alternate, sessile, elliptical, 0.5–8(–12) cm × 0.5–3(–6) cm, glabrous but with reddish glands below. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal raceme 2–11 cm long, densely dark brown short-hairy, c. 15-flowered. Flowers bisexual, slightly zygomorphic, 5-merous; pedicel 3–13 mm long; sepals oblong-ovate, 5–6 mm long, densely hairy and glandular; petals free, obovate, 9–12 mm long, yellow, the upper petal slightly smaller than the others and spotted with red-brown; stamens 10, 6–8 mm long, hairy at base; ovary superior, c. 3 mm long, hairy and glandular, 1-celled, style c. 1.5 mm long. Fruit an obliquely oblong-elliptical, flattened pod 4.5–6 cm long, with beak at apex, slightly hairy, dehiscent with 2 spiralling valves, (1–)2-seeded. Seeds ovate to nearly round, flattened, 10–13 mm long, brown, finely cracked.
The fruits are explosively dehiscent, dispersing the seeds over short distances.
Stuhlmannia comprises a single species. It is closely related to Caesalpinia and Cordeauxia.
Ecology
Stuhlmannia moavi occurs in lowland evergreen or deciduous woodland, also in riverine forest. It is found on lime-stone, sandy and basaltic soils.
Genetic resources and breeding
Stuhlmannia moavi is uncommon, although locally frequent in northern Madagascar and very locally in gallery forest in Tanzania. In Kenya and Tanzania it is confined to a few coastal forest fragments. It is classified as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List.
Prospects
Stuhlmannia moavi is too uncommon to be promoted for use of its timber. The focus of research should be on its conservation rather than its exploitation.
Major references
• du Puy, D.J., Labat, J.N., Rabevohitra, R., Villiers, J.-F., Bosser, J. & Moat, J., 2002. The Leguminosae of Madagascar. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 750 pp.
• Lovett, J. & Clarke, G.P., 1998. Stuhlmannia moavi. In: IUCN. 2008 Red list of threatened species. [Internet] http://www.iucnredlist.org Accessed March 2009.
Other references
• Beentje, H.J., 1994. Kenya trees, shrubs and lianas. National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya. 722 pp.
• Brenan, J.P.M., 1967. Leguminosae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. In: Milne-Redhead, E. & Polhill, R.M. (Editors). Flora of Tropical East Africa. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom. 230 pp.
• Lewis, G.P., 1996. Notes on Stuhlmannia Taub. and the correct placement of Caesalpinia insolita (Harms) Brenan & J.B. Gillett (Leguminosae; Caesalpinioideae: Caesalpinieae). Kew Bulletin 51(2): 377–379.
• Lewis, G., Schrire, B., MacKinder, B. & Lock, M., 2005. Legumes of the world. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 577 pp.
Author(s)

•	R.H.M.J. Lemmens PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Editors

•	R.H.M.J. Lemmens PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
•	D. Louppe CIRAD, Département Environnements et Sociétés, Cirad es-dir, Campus international de Baillarguet, TA C-DIR / B (Bât. C, Bur. 113), 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
•	A.A. Oteng-Amoako Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University P.O. Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

Associate editors

•	E.A. Obeng Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University P.O. Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

Correct citation of this article:
Lemmens, R.H.M.J., 2010. Stuhlmannia moavi Taub. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Louppe, D. & Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (Editors). Prota 7(2): Timbers/Bois d’œuvre 2. [CD-Rom]. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands.