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An African tree with juicy fruits that are much sought after by many local people, marula is a member of the Anacardiaceae, the same plant family to which mangos and cashews belong. Marula fruit is highly prized by many animals, from elephants to mongooses - although the story that they can get drunk on fermented fruit is probably just fiction. The fruit pulp is made into a popular alcoholic drink, known as maroela mampoer or amarula.

Sclerocarya birrea (marula)

[FWTA]

Anacardiaceae, Hutchinson and Dalziel. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:2. 1958

Morphology General Habit
A savannah tree, to 40 ft. high,
Morphology General Bark
Grey fissured bark
Morphology Branches
Stout branchlets
Morphology Leaves
Pale foliage
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers greenish-white or reddish
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruits yellow, thick-skinned, resembling a small mango
Morphology General Shoots
Sterile regrowth shoots often with coarsely serrate leaflets
Ecology
In the drier savannah regions.

[KSP]

Kew Species Profiles

General Description

An African tree with juicy fruits that are much sought after by many local people, marula is a member of the Anacardiaceae, the same plant family to which mangos and cashews belong. Marula fruit is highly prized by many animals, from elephants to mongooses - although the story that they can get drunk on fermented fruit is probably just fiction. The fruit pulp is made into a popular alcoholic drink, known as maroela mampoer or amarula.

Species Profile
Geography and distribution

Marula is distributed from Senegal to Ethiopia and south to South Africa and is also found in Madagascar.

Description

Overview: A tree up to 18 m tall, with a rounded crown (the leafy part of the tree) and cracked, grey bark. Trees are either male or female.

Leaves: Divided into 7‒21 leaflets with separate points of attachment along a central axis.

Flowers: Small, whitish-purple to red, in tight groups on long stalks (male flowers) or in clusters of 1‒3 (female flowers).

Fruit: Yellow, round or egg-shaped, 2.5‒5.0 cm across, with a juicy flesh surrounding a hard stone.

Uses

Marula fruit is prized by many African people. It has a delicate nutty flavour and contains a higher concentration of vitamin C than oranges. The stone is high in protein, and the seed oil contains antioxidants.

A decoction of the bark is used medicinally against malaria, scorpion and snake bites, dysentery, diarrhoea and haemorrhoids. An infusion of the fruit is used to bathe cattle with the aim of destroying any ticks present.

The wood is used for furniture, planks, carving and utensils. Rope is made from the inner bark, and the bark also yields a red-brown dye used in traditional crafts. The nectar attracts insect pollinators, and marula is often planted to attract pollinators to farms.

Millennium Seed Bank: Seed storage

The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life worldwide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault.

Sclerocarya birrea (marula) fruits

Eight collections of marula seeds are held in Kew's Millennium Seed Bank based at Wakehurst in West Sussex.

See Kew's Seed Information Database for more information on Sclerocarya birrea seeds

Cultivation

Marula can be grown from seed or from sticks planted during the early rainy season. It can grow up to 1.5 m in a year but will not tolerate frost.

This species at Kew

Sclerocarya birrea is grown in the behind-the-scenes Tropical Nursery at Kew.

Dried and alcohol-preserved specimens of Sclerocarya birrea are held in Kew's Herbarium, where they are available to researchers by appointment. The details of some of these specimens, including some images, can be seen online in Kew's Herbarium Catalogue.

Specimens of marula wood and bark and a box of marula-flavoured biscuits are held in Kew's Economic Botany Collection in the Sir Joseph Banks Building, where they are available to researchers by appointment.

Distribution
Madagascar
Ecology
Wooded grassland, woodland, bushland on rocky hills.
Conservation
Least Concern (LC) according to IUCN Red List criteria; widespread and locally common.
Hazards

None known.

[FTEA]

Anacardiaceae, J. O. Kokwaro (University of Nairobi). Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1986

Morphology General Habit
A spreading deciduous tree up to 18 m. high; bole pale grey, widely reticulate and flaking in small or large scales.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves variable, 7–37-foliolate, 10–38 cm. long; rachis semicylindric, grooved above, glabrous; leaflets round, ovate, obovate, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 0.8–9(–11) cm. long, 0.7–3.5(6) cm. broad, acuminate or cuspidate to obtuse or apiculate at the apex, asymmetric and slightly cuneate or rounded at the base, margin entire to dentate-serrate (especially on new outgrowths), lateral ones sessile or with petiolules up to 3 cm. long, the terminal petiolule up to 5 cm. long, membranous to semicoriaceous, glabrous; midrib prominent beneath; lateral nerves distinct on both sides and impressed or slightly raised and reticulate beneath.
sex Male
Male inflorescences 7–22 cm. long; peduncle puberulous; bracts ovate, ± 2 mm. long by 1.5 mm. broad, obtuse, puberulous or glabrous. Male flowers:sepals ± 2 mm. long and broad; petals oblong-ovate, 4–6 mm. long, 3–4 mm. broad, obtuse, yellow to dark red with cream margins; filaments ± 3 mm. long; anthers 1–1.5 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Female inflorescences shorter, usually 1 or 2(–3)-flowered; peduncle and pedicels thickened during fruiting stage; sepals and petals similar to ♂; staminodes present; ovary subglobose. Male inflorescences 7–22 cm. long; peduncle puberulous; bracts ovate, ± 2 mm. long by 1.5 mm. broad, obtuse, puberulous or glabrous. Male flowers:sepals ± 2 mm. long and broad; petals oblong-ovate, 4–6 mm. long, 3–4 mm. broad, obtuse, yellow to dark red with cream margins; filaments ± 3 mm. long; anthers 1–1.5 mm. long.
sex Female
Female inflorescences shorter, usually 1 or 2(–3)-flowered; peduncle and pedicels thickened during fruiting stage; sepals and petals similar to ♂; staminodes present; ovary subglobose.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Drupe obovoid, 3–3.5 cm. in diameter, yellow and with a very juicy mesocarp; stone obovoid, 2–3 cm. long, 2.5 cm. in diameter.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seed 1.5–2 cm. long, 0.4–0.8 cm. wide.

[KSP]
Use
Edible fruits, medicine, timber.

Native to:

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Caprivi Strip, Central African Repu, Chad, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

English
Marula

Sclerocarya birrea (A.Rich.) Hochst. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
Jan 1, 1980 Ern, H. [2427], Togo K000452137
Jan 1, 1980 Ern, H. [3084], Togo K000452135
Jan 1, 1980 Ern, H. [2420], Togo K000452136
Mar 1, 1969 Virgo, K.J. [15], Nigeria K000452133
Jan 1, 1965 Morton, J.K. [4223], Ghana K000452128
Bally, P.R.O. [5443], Kenya 11487.000
Tweedie, E.M. [3408], Uganda 30525.000
Ash, J. [1599], Ethiopia 34534.000
Hoyle, A.C. [602], Sudan 9847.000
Heudelot, D. [1828], Senegal K000423407
Schimper [1575], Ethiopia K000423408
Ethiopia K000423409
Sihronen, J. [130], Burkina Faso K000452126
Kitson, A. [649], Ghana K000452130
Leeuwenberg, A.J.M. [4331], Burkina Faso K000452127
Kitson, A. [839], Ghana K000452131
Schimper [610], Ethiopia K000423410
Holtz [1064], Tanzania K000423403
Espirito Santo, J. [2504], Guinea-Bissau K000452123
Tutin, C.E.G. [22], Senegal K000452125
Chevalier, A.J.B. [1207], Mali K000452124
Wit, P. [51168], Nigeria K000452134
Kitson, A. [653], Ghana K000452129
Dalziel, J.M. [120], Ghana K000452138
Onochie, C.F.A. [23352], Nigeria K000452132

First published in Flora 27(Bes. Beil.): 1 (1844)

Accepted by

  • Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
  • Barry, J. P. & Celles, J.S. (1991). Flore de Mauritanie 1: 1-359. Centre Regional de Documentation Pedagogique, Nice.
  • Barthelat, F. (2019). La flore illustrée de Mayotte: 1-687. Biotope éditions.
  • Boudet, G., Lebrun, J.P. & Demange, R. (1986). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Mali: 1-465. Etudes d'Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux.
  • Boulvert, Y. (1977). Catalogue de la Flore de Centrafrique 3: 1-89. ORSTROM, Bangui.
  • Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds.) (2003). Plants of Southern Africa an annotated checklist Strelitzia 14: 1-1231. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
  • Hedberg, I. & Edwards, S. (eds.) (1989 publ. 1990). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea 3: 1-659. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia & The Department of Systematic Botany, Upps.
  • Hutchinson, J., Dalziel, J.M. & Keay, R.W.J. (1954-1958). Flora of West Tropical Africa, ed. 2, 1: 1-828.
  • Jones, M. (1991). A checklist of Gambian plants: 1-33. Michael Jones, The Gambia College.
  • Kalema, J. & Beentje, H. (2012). Conservation checklist of the trees of Uganda: 1-235. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Kokwaro, J.O. (1986). Flora of Tropical East Africa, Anacardiaceae: 1-59.
  • Lebrun, J.-P., Audru, J., Gaston, A. & Mosnier, M. (1972). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Tchad Méridional: 1-289. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.
  • Lebrun, J.p., Toutain, B., Gaston, A. & Boudet, G. (1991). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Burkina Faso: 1-341. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.
  • Lisowski, S. (2009). Flore (Angiospermes) de la République de Guinée Scripta Botanica Belgica 41: 1-517.
  • Mannheimer, C.A. & Curtis, B.A. (eds.) (2009). Le Roux and Müller's field guide to the trees and shrubs of Namibia, rev. ed.: 1-525. Macmillan Education Namibia, Windhoek.
  • Onana, J.M. (2011). The vascular plants of Cameroon a taxonomic checklist with IUCN assessments: 1-195. National herbarium of Cameroon, Yaoundé.
  • Peyre de Fabregues, B. & Lebrun, J.-P. (1976). Catalogue des Plantes Vascularies du Niger: 1-433. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.

Literature

Kew Species Profiles

  • Beentje, H. J. (1994). Kenya Trees, Shrubs and Lianas. National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi.
  • Coates Palgrave, K. (2002). Trees of Southern Africa, 3rd Edition. Struik, Cape Town, Johannesburg.
  • Kokwaro, J. O. (1986). Anacardiaceae. In: Flora of Tropical East Africa, ed. R. M. Polhill. Balkema, Rotterdam.
  • Sacande, M., Sanou, L. & Beentje, H. J. (2012). Guide de Terrain des Arbres de Burkina Faso. Kew Publishing, Kew.
  • Wickens, G. E. (1995). Potential Edible Nuts/Edible Nuts (Non-wood Forest Products 5). Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.
  • Wyk, B-E. van, Oudtshoorn, B. van & Gericke, N. (1997). Medicinal Plants of South Africa. Briza, Pretoria.

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • Chev. Bot. 157.
  • F.T.A. 1: 449
  • in Flora 27, Bes. Beil. 1 (1844)

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
  • Barry, J. P. & Celles, J.S. (1991). Flore de Mauritanie 1: 1-359. Centre Regional de Documentation Pedagogique, Nice.
  • Boudet, G., Lebrun, J.P. & Demange, R. (1986). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Mali: 1-465. Etudes d'Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux.
  • Boulvert, Y. (1977). Catalogue de la Flore de Centrafrique 3: 1-89. ORSTROM, Bangui.
  • Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Hutchinson, J., Dalziel, J.M. & Keay, R.W.J. (1954-1958). Flora of West Tropical Africa, ed. 2, 1: 1-828.
  • Jones, M. (1991). A checklist of Gambian plants: 1-33. Michael Jones, The Gambia College.
  • Kalema, J. & Beentje, H. (2012). Conservation checklist of the trees of Uganda: 1-235. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Kokwaro, J.O. (1986). Flora of Tropical East Africa, Anacardiaceae: 1-59.
  • Lebrun, J.-P., Audru, J., Gaston, A. & Mosnier, M. (1972). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Tchad Méridional: 1-289. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.
  • Lebrun, J.p., Toutain, B., Gaston, A. & Boudet, G. (1991). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Burkina Faso: 1-341. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.
  • Lisowski, S. (2009). Flore (Angiospermes) de la République de Guinée Scripta Botanica Belgica 41: 1-517.
  • Onana, J.M. (2011). The vascular plants of Cameroon a taxonomic checklist with IUCN assessments: 1-195. National herbarium of Cameroon, Yaoundé.
  • Peyre de Fabregues, B. & Lebrun, J.-P. (1976). Catalogue des Plantes Vascularies du Niger: 1-433. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Cufod., Enumeratio Plantarum Aethiopiae Spermatophyta (Supplement in Bull. Jard. Bot. Brux.) p. 467 (1958).
  • Dale & Greenway, Kenya Trees and Shrubs p. 30, fig. 6 (1961).
  • Engl., A. Engler & K. Prantl, Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien III, 5: 152 (1892).
  • Exell & Mendonça in Consp. Fl. Angol. 2: 130 (1954).
  • F. W. Andr., The Flowering Plants of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 2: 351, fig. 131 (1952)
  • Hochst. in Flora 27, Bes. Beil.: 1 (1844).
  • J.P.M. Brenan, Check-lists of the Forest Trees and Shrubs of the British Empire no. 5, part II, Tanganyika Territory p. 38 (1949).
  • Keay, Flora of West Tropical Africa, ed. 2, 1: 729, fig. 199 (1958).
  • Oliv. in Flora of Tropical Africa 1: 449 (1868).
  • W.J. Eggeling, Indigenous Trees of the Uganda Protectorate, ed. 2: 14, fig. 3 (1952).
  • van der Veken in Flore du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi, 9: 67 (1960).

Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
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Flora of West Tropical Africa
Flora of West Tropical Africa
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Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Species Profiles
Kew Species Profiles
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