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<big>''[[Discoclaoxylon hexandrum]]'' (Müll.Arg.) Pax & K.Hoffm.</big>

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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Discoclaoxylon hexandrum'' (PROTA)}}

:Protologue: Engl., Pflanzenr. IV 147 VII: 137 (1914).

== Synonyms ==

== Origin and geographic distribution ==

In Ghana a decoction of the leafy twigs is taken as a purgative. Children play with the bright red seeds.

Small, dioecious, sparingly branched small tree up to 6(–10) m tall; bark grey; young shoots and petioles sparingly short-hairy, later almost glabrous, yellowish grey-green. Leaves alternate, simple; stipules tiny, soon falling; petiole (5–)8–17(–20) cm long, purplish; blade elliptical-oblong, 20–35 cm × 10–15 cm, base rounded to cuneate, apex acute to obtuse, margins toothed, firmly papery to leathery, almost glabrous, but short-hairy on main veins, purplish, later dark and glossy green. Inflorescence an axillary raceme up to 30(–50) cm long; bracts c. 1.5 mm long, acuminate, densely hairy. Flowers unisexual, petals absent; male flowers with jointed pedicel 3–4(–7) mm long; sepals 4, broadly triangular-ovate, c. 1.5 mm long, densely short-hairy outside, glabrous inside, pale green, disk shallowly lobed, c. 1.5 mm in diameter, papillose, stamens 6–7(–9), filaments c. 0.5 mm long, free; female flowers almost sessile, pedicel extending to 2 mm in fruit, basally jointed, calyx lobes 4, ovate, 1–1.5 mm long, united at base, densely woolly hairy outside, grey-green, disk glands 2, broadly triangular, c. 1 mm × 1.5 mm, ovary superior, 2-lobed, c. 1.5 mm in diameter, densely woolly hairy, 2-celled, styles 2, c. 0.5 mm long, free, feathery-hairy. Fruit a 2-lobed capsule c. 5 mm × 10 mm, lobes almost globular, densely yellowish grey-green woolly hairy, 2-seeded. Seeds almost globose, 3.5–4 mm in diameter, smooth, blackish, with a yellow, fleshy pseudoaril.

''Discoclaoxylon'' comprises 4 species, which all occur in tropical Africa. ''Discoclaoxylon hexandrum'' is the only species with a relatively widespread distribution; the other 3 species are endemic to different islands in the Gulf of Guinea. How distinct they are from one another requires further study. Some authors include ''Discoclaoxylon'' in ''Claoxylon''.

== Ecology ==

== Author(s) ==

== Correct citation of this article ==

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