Olacaceae
Olax

Olax pentandra Sleumer

First published in Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 38: 208 (1935)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is S. Tanzania. It is a shrub or tree and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/158373/774133

Conservation
NT - near threatened
[IUCN]

Olacaceae, G. Ll. Lucas. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1968

Note
Since going to press, a fruiting specimen of Olax, Migeod 1007, has been found among the indeterminate material at the British Museum (Natural History). This provides evidence that O. pentandra Sleumer, based on Schlieben 5205 (B, holo.!, BM, iso.!) is specifically distinct from O. dissitiflora.
Diagnostic
It may be distinguished by the subsessile leaves, shorter pedicels (3–4 mm., not 6–10 mm. long) and the inflated calyx, which completely encloses the fruit and is up to 1.8 cm. long (not almost enclosing fruit and up to 9 mm. long); the stomatal pattern is also quite different. It seems in fact to have more affinity with certain W. African species, such as O. mannii Oliv.
Habitat
Wooded grassland; 180–240 m.
Distribution
T8 not known elsewhere
[FTEA]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0