Sterculia setigera Delile

First published in F.Cailliaud, Voy. Méroé 4(prepr.): 61 (1826)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tropical Africa. It is a tree and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/156106803/156106805

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Sterculiaceae, Martin Cheek & Laurence Dorr; Nesogordonia, Laurence Dorr, Lisa Barnett. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2007

Type
Type: Sudan, Gonso (or Tertu), Cailliaud s.n. (MPU, holo.)
Morphology General Habit
Large shrub or tree 4.5–12 m tall; bole often buttressed at the base.
Morphology General Bark
Bark grey-purple, rough, flaking to leave pale patches; slash meat-red with paler streaks, watery, with white gum; ultimate branchlets yellowish brown tomentose to tomentellous, 3–7 mm wide, at length becoming ridged, rough, grey and exfoliating; bud-scales triangular, 2–2.5 mm long, 1.5–1.8 mm wide, tomentellous
Morphology Leaves
Leaf-blade ± orbicular in outline, 3–5lobed, 8.5–17 cm long, 8.5–17.5 cm wide, lobes subequal, wide, 4–7 cm long, 7–9 cm wide, apices acuminate, ± 3 cm long, 0.2 cm wide, base cordate, sinus 3–5 cm deep, edges overlapping, tomentellous above, densely yellow-brown tomentose with 6–8armed pale stellate hairs below.
Morphology Leaves Petiole
Petiole terete, 8–12 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, densely yellow-brown tomentellous; stipules caducous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescences borne 5–8 at the apex of leafless stems, 4–8.5 cm long, 2–4 cm wide, yellow-brown, tomentellous and densely stellate-hairy, with 3–10 lateral branches, lowest branch 3–9 mm from the base, 15–35 mm long, bearing 1–4 partial peduncles, each 1–3-flowered
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers with perianth green outside, red inside, widely campanulate, 9.5–13 mm long, 11–16 mm wide, divided into 5 oblong acute lobes, 5–9 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, outside velutinous, densely covered with short yellow-brown (when dried) stellate hairs which completely obscure the epidermis, inside glabrous apart from the upper 2/3–3/4 of the lobes which more sparsely covered in patent white, simple hairs
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit with follicles ± ellipsoid, 7–12 cm long, 2–3 cm wide, nearly dehiscing flat, then slightly shorter, 4.5–8 cm wide, rostrum long, stout, straight or curved, 1–3 cm long, stipe short and stout, 0.2–0.5 cm long, pericarp woody, 2–4 mm thick, outer surface brown, tomentellous, inner surface yellow, drying dull orange, softly tomentose except the placenta which is covered in urticating yellow hairs ± 2 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds with stout, peg-like stalks 2–3 mm long, persisting on old fruits; seeds ellipsoid, 11–12 mm long, 7–8 mm wide, greyblack, hilum sub-apical, round, 1 mm wide, at the margin of the aril; aril large, rounded, apical, 5 mm wide, 2 mm high, red, drying orange or red
Figures
Fig 2, p 15
Ecology
Wooded grassland; 750–1200 m
Conservation
This species is here assessed as “Least Concern” in view of its large geographic range and because of its common habitat.
Note
Sterculia setigera is closely related to Sterculia africana, the flowers being very similar apart from indumentum, the fruits being almost identical. It is distinguished from the latter by the 6–8-armed stellate hairs that make the lower leaf-blade tomentose and the perianth yellow-brown velvety, and are so dense as to entirely obscure the epidermis below. In addition, the leaves are at least twice the size usual in Sterculia africana. However, the latter is a variable species and some larger leaved specimens from T 3 with thicker indumentum than the norm have been treated, for example by Brenan (T.T.C.L.: 603 (1949)) as S. setigera. Throughout its range, S. setigera seems to be rather constant in leaf shape and size, and in perianth indumentum. A discordant element, with the indumentum of the lower leaf-blade silkily white, occurs in Ethiopia. This seems referable to S. cinerea A.Rich., normally treated as a synonym of S. setigera. Further investigation is warranted.
Distribution
Flora districts: U1 U2 T1 Range: Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo-Kinshasa, Sudan, Ethiopia, Angola
[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: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

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

Morphology General Habit
A deciduous, savannah tree, to 40 ft. high
Morphology General Bark
Bark rough
Morphology General Exudate
Yielding a white gum
Morphology Branches
Young branches softly tomentose
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers dull red or yellowish-green with red streaks, appearing before the new foliage
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruiting carpels usually 4–5, grey to brownish outside, beaked, velvety inside with pungent bristles along the placenta line.
[FWTA]

Uses

Use
Wood white and soft, of little value. Seeds taste like groundnuts, eaten in Uganda (fide Eggeling in I.T.U.: 423 (1952)).
[FTEA]

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
  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical 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 2025. 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 2025. 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
  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images