Moraceae
Milicia

Milicia excelsa (Welw.) C.C.Berg

First published in Bull. Jard. Bot. Natl. Belg. 52: 227 (1982)
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

Moraceae, C.C. Berg (University of Bergen). Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1989

Morphology General Habit
Tree up to 30(–50) m. tall.
Morphology Leaves
Lamina coriaceous, when juvenile chartaceous, elliptic to oblong, 6–20(–33) × 3.5–10(–1 2) cm., apex acuminate, base cordate to obtuse, margin subentire to repand, when juvenile serrate- to crenate-dentate, upper surface glabrous or puberulous to pubescent on the main nerves, when juvenile often scabridulous, lower surface densely puberulous on the vein-reticulum, pubescent, puberulous or almost glabrous on the main veins, when juvenile the whole surface hirtellous to tomentose; lateral veins 10–22 pairs, tertiary venation partly scalariform; petiole 1–5 cm. long; stipules 0.5–5 cm. long, caducous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Staminate inflorescences:spike 8–20 cm. long, ± 0.5 cm. in diameter; peduncle 0.5–2.5 cm. long. Pistillate inflorescences:spike 2–3(–5 in fruit) cm. long, 0.5(–1.5 in fruit) cm. in diameter; stigmas up to 7 mm. long.
sex Male
Staminate inflorescences:spike 8–20 cm. long, ± 0.5 cm. in diameter; peduncle 0.5–2.5 cm. long.
sex Female
Pistillate inflorescences:spike 2–3(–5 in fruit) cm. long, 0.5(–1.5 in fruit) cm. in diameter; stigmas up to 7 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm. long.
Figures
Fig. 2.
Habitat
A secondary tree of rain-forest, lowland evergreen forest, riverine and ground-water forest, sometimes left in old cultivated areas; 0–1350 m.
Distribution
K4 K5 K7 P T1 T2 T3 T4 T6 T7 T8 U1 U2 U4 Guinea Bissau to SW. Ethiopia, south to Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and E. Zimbabwe
[FTEA]

Moraceae, C. C. Berg. Flora Zambesiaca 9:6. 1991

Morphology General Habit
Tree up to 30(50) m. tall.
Morphology Leaves
Leaf lamina elliptic to oblong, 6–20(33) x 3.5–10(12) cm., subcoriaceous, chartaceous when juvenile, apex acuminate, base cordate to obtuse, margin subentire to repand, when juvenile serrate to crenate-dentate; superior surface glabrous or puberulous to pubescent on the main veins, when juvenile often scabridulous; inferior surface densely puberulous on the reticulum, pubescent to puberulous or almost glabrous on the main veins, when juvenile the whole surface hirtellous to tomentose; lateral veins 10–22 pairs, tertiary venation partly perpendicular to the lateral veins: petiole 1–5 cm. long; stipules 0.5–5 cm. long, caducous.
sex Male
Staminate inflorescences: spike 8–20 cm. long, c. 0.5 cm. in diam., peduncle 0.5–2.5 cm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Pistillate inflorescences: spike 2–3 cm. long, c. 0.5 cm. in diam. (to 5 x 1.5 cm. in fruit); stigmas up to 7 mm. long. Staminate inflorescences: spike 8–20 cm. long, c. 0.5 cm. in diam., peduncle 0.5–2.5 cm. long.
sex Female
Pistillate inflorescences: spike 2–3 cm. long, c. 0.5 cm. in diam. (to 5 x 1.5 cm. in fruit); stigmas up to 7 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm. long.
[FZ]

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]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/33903/9817388

Conservation
NT - near threatened
[IUCN]

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

Morphology Bole
Bole up to 75 ft. or more, shortly buttressed
Morphology General Bark
Smooth bark becoming brown and scaling
Morphology Trunk Slash
Slash with whitish latex
Note
Dioecious.
Morphology General Habit
A large forest tree, to 160 ft. high
[FWTA]

Common Names

unknown
African teak, amoreira, cambula, eluroi, ge-ay, iroko, iroko (Nigeria), kampala, kusuba, mvule, nuvale, odum, roko, semi, swamp mahogany, tema, troko, white mangrove

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

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

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • 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

    • 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 2026. 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 2026. 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