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<big>''[[Ochrosia oppositifolia]]'' (Lam.) K.Schum.</big>

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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Ochrosia oppositifolia'' (PROTA)}}

:Protologue: Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 4(2): 156 (1895).

:Family: Apocynaceae

== Synonyms ==

== Vernacular names ==

== Origin and geographic distribution ==

The wood is yellowish white and hard.

Small to medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall, glabrous except for the corolla tube inside, with white latex; bole up to 50 cm in diameter; bark pale grey, rough; branches with ring-shaped leaf scars. Leaves in whorls of 4, sometimes opposite near the inflorescence, simple and entire; petiole 1–6.5 cm long, not widened into a stipule at base; blade obovate to elliptical, 8–35 cm × 3–15 cm, base decurrent into the petiole, apex rounded, retuse or obtuse, pinnately veined with numerous lateral veins at right angles to the midrib. Inflorescence a terminal cyme, but often seemingly axillary, many-flowered; peduncle 2–14 cm long; lower bracts leafy, broadly ovate, others scale- or sepal-like. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous, almost sessile; sepals connate at base, ovate, 1–2 mm long, thick; corolla creamy to white, tube 4–10 mm long, cylindrical, slightly widened around the stamens, lobes elliptical, 5–9 mm × 2–3 mm, apex rounded, spreading; stamens inserted c. 2 mm below the mouth of the corolla tube, included, sessile; ovary superior, consisting of 2 free carpels, style 1–4.5 mm long, ending in an ovoid pistil head, with a basal ring and a 2-lobed apex. Fruit consisting of 2 free ovoid to ellipsoid drupes 5–8 cm × 3–5.5 cm, apex rounded or apiculate, indehiscent, smooth, mesocarp fibrous, each drupe 1–2-seeded. Seeds elliptical, flattened, 1.5–2.5 cm long, winged.

''Ochrosia'' comprises about 30 species and occurs from the Mascarene Islands and Seychelles to South-East Asia, the Pacific and northern Australia. New Caledonia is particularly rich in endemic species. ''Ochrosia'' belongs to the tribe ''Rauvolfieae'', together with the well-known genus ''Rauvolfia''.

The fruits float with their thick fibrous mesocarp and are dispersed by sea currents. ''Ochrosia oppositifolia'' fruits planted without removal of the pulp germinate poorly and only after about 8 months.

== Ecology ==

* Friedmann, F., 1994. Flore des Seychelles: Dicotylédones. Editions de l’ORSTOM, Paris, France. 663 pp.

== Author(s) ==

== Correct citation of this article ==

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