非洲楝 fei zhou lian

Swietenia senegalensis Desrousseaux in Lamarck, Encycl. 3: 679. 1791.

Trees to 25 m tall or more. Bark exfoliating. Young branches with dark grayish brown lenticels. Leaves 15-60 cm or more; petiole and rachis cylindric, glabrous; leaflets 8-32, subopposite to alternate, apical 2 pairs opposite; petiolules 5-10 mm; leaflet blades basally on rachis ovate but apically on rachis oblong to elliptic, 7-17 × 3-6 cm, abaxially greenish white, adaxially dark green, secondary veins 9-14 on each side of midvein and prominent on both surfaces when dry, base broadly cuneate to ± rounded, margin entire, apex mucronate to acuminate. Thyrses shorter than leaves, glabrous. Sepals 4, distinct, oblong, ca. 1 mm. Petals 4, oblong to obovate, ca. 3 mm, glabrous. Staminal tube urceolate. Ovary ovoid, usually 4-locular, with amphitropous ovules. Capsule globose, woody, septifragal from apex when mature; pericarp thick. Seeds ellipsoid to suborbicular, broad, margin with a round membranous wing.

Cultivated. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan [native to tropical Africa].

This species is usually grown as an ornamental. The wood is used as construction material, the leaves as animal feed, and the roots as medicine.