Pappea
Encyclopedia
Pappea capensis is a South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n tree in the family Sapindaceae
Sapindaceae
Sapindaceae, also known as the soapberry family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. There are about 140-150 genera with 1400-2000 species, including maple, horse chestnut and lychee....

. It is the only species in the genus Pappea.
Common names:

include Jacket plum, Indaba tree and bushveld cherry. In other languages, it is known as: (Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

); , , (Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...

); , (Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...

); , (Pedi
Northern Sotho language
Northern Sotho , also inaccurately known by the name of a major dialect, Pedi or sePedi, is one of the official languages of South Africa, and is spoken by 4,208,980 people — in the South African provinces of Gauteng,...

); (Swati); , (Tsonga
Tsonga language
The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan.- Classification :Tsonga belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger–Congo languages...

).

Description

The jacket plum (small to medium tree with a height of 7 metre) is a long-lived, hardy, evergreen.

The greenish flowers are borne on catkins in the axils of the leaves. The Jacket plums are dioecious
Plant sexuality
Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....

 with male and female flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s appearing as catkin
Catkin
A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated but sometimes insect pollinated . They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping...

s on different plants. The trees flower from September to May and the fruit is produced from February to July. The dense crown is popular with nesting birds as it provides good nesting sites.

The fruit are furry green capsule 10–15 mm (0.393700787401575–0.590551181102362 ) diameter that splits to yield an orange-red flesh containing a single black seed. The red fruit is eaten by birds, animals and humans. The jacket plum is related to the litchi.

The leaves are alternate, simple and oblong, hard-textured and wavy. The leaves are crowded at the ends of the branches
The leaf margin changes from sharply toothed young growth to almost smooth in mature leaves.

Distribution

Pappea is widespread in southern Africa from the Northern Cape
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...

 through the drier Karoo
Karoo
The Karoo is a semi-desert region of South Africa. It has two main sub-regions - the Great Karoo in the north and the Little Karoo in the south. The 'High' Karoo is one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger South African Platform division.-Great Karoo:The Great Karoo has an area of...

, Eastern Cape
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...

, KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....

, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

 and northwards into Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...

 and Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....

. It is found in bushveld
Bushveld
The Bushveld is a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa that encompasses most of Limpopo Province and a small part of the North West Province of South Africa, the Central and North-East Districts of Botswana and the Matabeleland South and part of th Matabeleland North provinces of...

, riverine thicket, wooded grassland and rocky outcrops
Outcrop
An outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. -Features:Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be...

 in grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

 as well as scrub veld
Veld
The term Veld refers primarily to the wide open rural spaces of South Africa or southern Africa and in particular to certain flatter areas or districts covered in grass or low scrub...

 and is often found on termite mounds.

Origin of name

The generic name Pappea is named after the German physician and plant collector Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Pappe
Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Pappe
Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Pappe was a German-born botanist who was a native of Hamburg.He studied medicine and botany at Leipzig, and in 1831 relocated to Cape Town as a physician. His primary focus soon turned to botany, and he began performing extensive investigations of South African flora...

; the specific name  refers to southern Africa.

Other representatives of the family in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 are the false currants (Allophylus
Allophylus
Allophylus is a genus of plants in the family Sapindaceae. This list of species is incomplete:* Allophylus agbala Hauman* Allophylus aldabricus Radlk.* Allophylus bullatus Radlk.* Allophylus chirindensis Baker f....

spp.), the sand olive (Dodonaea viscosa
Dodonaea viscosa
Dodonaea viscosa is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, that has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, the Americas, southern Asia and Australasia.-Description:...

) and the bushveld red-balloon (Erythrophysa transvaalensis
Erythrophysa transvaalensis
Erythrophysa transvaalensis is a species of plant in the Sapindaceae family. It is found in Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.-References:* Hilton-Taylor, C. et al. 1998. . Downloaded on 21 August 2007....

).

This previously known separate varieties (Pappea capensis var. capensis and P. capensis var. radlkoferii) are now widely accepted as regional variation with two forms; an arid form from drier areas and a more lush form from regions of higher rainfall.

Lobengula's Indaba tree is an old example of this tree, it is found at the state house in Bulawayo
Bulawayo
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare, with an estimated population in 2010 of 2,000,000. It is located in Matabeleland, 439 km southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland...

 in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

.

Ecology

The fruit is eaten by various frugivorous birds and animals which in turn distribute the seeds in their droppings. The leaves are browsed by game such as elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

, giraffe
Giraffe
The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...

, kudu
Kudu
The kudus are two species of antelope of the genus Tragelaphus:*Lesser Kudu, Tragelaphus imberbis*Greater Kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros- Etymology :...

, nyala
Nyala
The Nyala is a Southern African antelope. It is a spiral-horned dense-forest antelope that is uncomfortable in open spaces and is most often seen at water holes. Nyalas live alone or in small family groups of up to 10 individuals.The male stands up to 110 cm , the female is up to 90 cm ...

, bushbuck
Bushbuck
The bushbuck is the most widespread antelope in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is found in rain forests, montane forests, forest-savanna mosaics and bush savannaforest and woodland. Recently, genetic studies have shown that the bushbuck, is in fact a complex of two geographically and phenotypically...

, grey duiker and domestic stock animals.

The jacket plum is recorded as larval food of the following butterflies of southern Africa:
  • Common hairtail butterfly (Anthene definita
    Anthene definita
    The Common Ciliate Blue or Common Hairtail is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in southern Africa.The wingspan is 21-27 mm for males and 24-29 mm for females...

    )
  • Brown playboy butterfly (Virachola antalus)
  • Pearlspotted charaxes (Charaxes jahlusa
    Charaxes jahlusa
    The Pearl-spotted Emperor or Pearl Spotted Charaxes is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae found in southern Africa.The wingspan is 43–56 mm in males and 50–62 mm in females...

    )
  • Gold-banded forester (Euphaedra neophron
    Euphaedra neophron
    The Gold Banded Forester is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It is found in eastern and southern Africa.The wingspan is 55-65 mm for males and 60-78 mm for females...

    )


The sweetly scented flowers attract a wide variety of insects and birds. The seed is parasitised by a small, bright red bug (Leptocoris hexophtalma) which sucks the oil from the seed on the ground below the tree.

Uses and cultural aspects

The delicious and very juicy fruit with a tart flavour is used to make preserve, jelly, vinegar and an alcoholic drink.

Leaves, bark and the oil extracted from the seed are used medicinally against baldness, ringworm, nosebleeds, chest complaints, eye infections, and venereal disease. Bark is also used in protective charms that are sprinkled on the ground. Some research has reported that the leaves are very effective in killing snails. Infusions of the bark are also used by Kenyan Maasai warriors to gain courage as well as an aphrodisiac
Aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire. The name comes from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexuality and love. Throughout history, many foods, drinks, and behaviors have had a reputation for making sex more attainable and/or pleasurable...

 and a blood-strengthening tonic. The root is used orally or as an enema and as a purgative for cattle.

The wood is hard, light brown with a reddish tint, tough and heavy with a twisted grain. There is little difference between the heartwood and the sapwood. The stems seldom attain significant girth and therefore do not yield much useable wood. This tree is used as an important source of traditional medicine
Traditional medicine
Traditional medicine comprises unscientific knowledge systems that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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