Cussonia arborea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cussonia arborea | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Apiales |
| Family: | Araliaceae |
| Genus: | Cussonia |
| Species: | C. arborea |
| Binomial name | |
| Cussonia arborea Hochst. ex A.Rich. | |
Cussonia arborea is a deciduous small to medium sized tree within the family Araliaceae. Extracts of the species are widely used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of ailments.[1]
A multi-branched tree, the species can reach a height of 15 m, while its trunk can reach 45 cm in diameter.[1] The bark is thick, corky and deeply furrowed, grey to dark grey in color. The leaves are palmately compound, with 3-9 leaflets or it can be simple, leaves are deeply lobed when mature and tend to have a leathery glabrous to glabrescent upper surface, its young leaves tend to be tomentose; leaflets are 6-30 cm long and 2-18 cm wide. Leaflets are obovate to elliptical in outline, the margin is commonly entire to crenate and the apex tend to be acute or acuminate while the base tend to be cuneate. Flowers are in umbels of spikes that points to different directions, up to 15 spikes per umbel, the fruit is globose or ovoid in shape, dark purple and up to 5 mm long.