Pteleopsis habeensis (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Fibre
Conservation status

Pteleopsis habeensis Aubrév. ex Keay

Protologue: Kew Bull. 1953: 290 (1953).

Family: Combretaceae

Origin and geographic distribution

The area of distribution of Pteleopsis habeensis is restricted to only a few regions: the Bandiagara escarpments in Mali (with the plant population possibly extending into Burkina Faso), the Akosombo and Bui regions in Ghana, and the Yankari Game Reserve and its immediate surroundings in Nigeria. It is possibly also present in Benin.

Uses

In the Bandiagara area of Mali the branches are woven into baskets.

Production and international trade

Pteleopsis habeensis is only used locally.

Botany

Straggling shrub or small, twisted tree with dense, rounded crown; bark fibrous, flaking off even in young branches, grey-brown, inner bark pale brown; branchlets slightly hairy, grey-brown. Leaves subopposite; petiole 1–4 mm long, hairy; blade ovate, c. 3–6 cm × 1.5–2.5 cm, base rounded or obtuse, apex obtuse or obtusely acuminate, purplish at the start of the dry season, hairy when young, later glabrous or slightly pubescent, pinnately veined with 5–7 pairs of only slightly prominent secondary veins merging near the margin, smaller veins reticulate. Inflorescence a pseudo-umbel 1.5–2 cm in diameter. Flowers whitish. Fruit c. 10 mm × 7 mm, slightly hairy, with 3 wings; pedicel 7–9 mm long, very thin.

Pteleopsis is a small genus of about 10 species, all in tropical Africa.

Ecology

Pteleopsis habeensis occurs on sandstone, in general on gravelly slopes along watercourses. The habitat, although associated with stream beds, is very dry, as the soils are sandy and well-drained, and the species is never found in or near the actual streambed.

In Mali Pteleopsis habeensis forms low thickets with Combretum micranthum G.Don. In the Yankari Game Reserve in Nigeria it covers several square kilometres, and forms pure stands of coppice-like woodland of numerous thin stems, uniform in height and girth, forming a closed canopy 8–15 m high. In Nigeria it is apparently fire-tender and occurs either in places where it is protected from fire, such as on rocky hills and cliffs, or where it shades out the fuel-providing grasses. Although large herbivores use the vegetation as a shelter, they seem to avoid feeding on this species; it is deciduous and does not provide shade or feed during the dry season and the foliage is probably unpalatable, as is that of many Combretaceae. The dense leaf cover seems to allow only the growth of shade-loving plants below it.

Management

Pteleopsis habeensis is only collected from the wild.

Genetic resources

Pteleopsis habeensis is a typical relict species, known from a few localities only. It is classified as endangered in the IUCN Red list because of its small area of distribution and declining habitat and numbers. This is especially the case in Ghana. In Nigeria, the largest area of Pteleopsis habeensis is in the well protected Yankari Game Reserve where the future of both the species and the exceptional vegetation type it forms, seems more secure. As a consequence, the IUCN conservation status might need reconsideration.

Prospects

It is unlikely that Pteleopsis habeensis will retain its importance as a fibre plant, also because of its declining habitat and numbers.

Major references

• Aubréville, A., 1950. Flore forestière soudano-guinéenne. Société d’Editions Géographiques, Maritimes et Coloniales, Paris, France. 533 pp.

• Burkill, H.M., 1985. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 1, Families A–D. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 960 pp.

• Geerling, C., 1982. Guide de terrain des ligneux Sahéliens et Soudano-Guinéens. Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen 82–3. Wageningen, Netherlands. 340 pp.

• Geerling, C., 1984. The Pteleopsis habeensis woodlands of Yankari Game Reserve, Nigeria. Biological Conservation 30: 359–362.

• Keay, R.W.J., 1954. Combretaceae. In: Keay, R.W.J. (Editor). Flora of West Tropical Africa. Volume 1, part 1. 2nd Edition. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom. pp. 264–281.

Other references

• Afolayan, T.A. & Ajayi, S.S., 2008. The influence of seasonality on the distribution of large mammals in the Yankari Game Reserve, Nigeria. African Journal of Ecology 18(1): 87–96.

• Hawthorne, W., 1990. Field guide to the forest trees of Ghana. Natural Resources Institute, for the Overseas Development Administration, London, United Kingdom. 275 pp.

• Hawthorne, W., 1998. Pteleopsis habeensis. In: IUCN. 2010 Red list of threatened species. Version 2010.1. [Internet] http://www.iucnredlist.org. May 2010.

• Hopkins, B. & Stanfield, D.P., 1966. A field key to the savanna trees of Nigeria. Ibadan, Nigeria. 39 pp.

• Poorter, L., Bongers, F., Kouamé, F.Y.N. & Hawthorne, W.D., 2004. Biodiversity of West African forests: an ecological atlas of woody plant species. CABI, Wallingford, United Kingdom. 521 pp.

Author(s)

• L.P.A. Oyen, PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article

Oyen, L.P.A., 2010. Pteleopsis habeensis Aubrév. ex Keay. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Brink, M. & Achigan-Dako, E.G. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>.

Accessed 31 March 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.