| Field notes | Small tree, short boled, about 20’ overall; growing on sandy foreshore just above tide level. Broad leaved crown. Leaves: Simple, alternate, bases of new leaf petioles surrounded by two green stipules up to 1½’’ long. Petiole terete, light green tomentose up to 5’’ long, angled about ¼’’-⅜’’ before leaf lamina. Leaf green above, paler below with lobes cordate overlapping, margin entire, 5’’ long by 6’’-7’’ wide. Slight pubescence below, glabrous above; prominently veined below. Flowers: In cymes, peduncle up to 1¼ long. Flower subtended by whorl of brownish green bracteoles and calyx. Petals, large, yellow with dark red coloration at the bottom. Stamens and stigma joined. Stigma about 1’’ long, red tipped. Fruits: Almost spherical, pointed tip, yellowish green in colour, tomentose, a dehiscent capsule. Fruit immature. Bark: Greyish yellow outer bark with numerous brown lenticular processes, more or less in vertical lines. White to pale straw colour inner bark fibrous with definite horizontal ripple marks; ¼’’- ⅜’’ thick. Wood: Sapwood undefined, pale straw coloured. Soft also, with minute ripples. Native name: Mogono. Use: Fish lines made from bark and was investigated for fibre purposes. Habitat: Sandy foreshore just above tide level and before Mangrove forest. |
