Leptolaena multiflora (PROTA)
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Introduction |
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| Geographic coverage Africa |
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| Geographic coverage World |
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| Timber |
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| Conservation status |
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Leptolaena multiflora Thouars
- Protologue: Hist. vég. isles austral. Afriq.: 41, t. 11 (1805).
- Family: Sarcolaenaceae
Vernacular names
- Tsilaitra à petites feuilles (Fr).
Origin and geographic distribution
Leptolaena multiflora is endemic to Madagascar, where it occurs in a relatively narrow zone along the east coast, with few populations farther inland.
Uses
The wood, best known as ‘anjananjana’ and ‘amaninombilahy’, is most commonly used in house construction, especially for posts because of its high durability. It is suitable for heavy flooring, heavy carpentry, mine props, ship building, railway sleepers, poles and piles. It has been used as firewood and for charcoal production.
Bark decoctions are administered in traditional medicine to treat jaundice and anaemia, and as tonic.
Production and international trade
The wood of Leptolaena multiflora and other Leptolaena spp. is only used locally, and not traded on the international timber market.
Properties
The heartwood is medium brown to reddish brown, and not distinctly demarcated from the pinkish white, rather narrow sapwood. The grain is straight to interlocked, texture fine.
The wood is very heavy, with a density of about 1100 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content, and very hard. It is difficult to air dry because of the high shrinkage rates; it is recommended to quarter-saw logs before drying to avoid deformation and excessive checking. Once dry, the wood is unstable in service. At 12% moisture content, the modulus of rupture is 219 N/mm², compression parallel to grain 86 N/mm², cleavage 20 N/mm and Chalais-Meudon side hardness 10.9.
The wood is quite difficult to saw and work, and has a serious dulling effect on saw teeth and cutting edges. It can be planed to a nice surface. It is resistant to shocks. The heartwood is very durable, although it may be slightly susceptible to termite attack; the sapwood is liable to Lyctus attack.
Description
- Large shrub or small to medium-sized tree up to 20(–25) m tall; bole straight or slightly tortuous, up to 50 cm in diameter; bark surface slightly fissured, scaly or tearing off in strips, whitish grey to brown, inner bark fibrous, yellowish.
- Leaves alternate, simple and entire; stipules free, early caducous; petiole c. 2 mm long, slightly hairy; blade elliptical, 3–8 cm long, rounded at base, acute to short-acuminate at apex, papery to leathery, glabrous, pinnately veined.
- Inflorescence a terminal panicle, many-flowered.
- Flowers bisexual, regular, with cup-like, toothed involucre at base; sepals 3, free, oblong, slightly longer than involucre; petals 5, free, spatulate, c. 5 mm long, white to yellow; stamens (5–)10, free, shorter than petals; disk ring-shaped; ovary superior, 3-celled, style slender, stigma 3-lobed.
- Fruit an ovoid capsule enclosed by the woody involucre, tardily dehiscent, 1–3-seeded.
Other botanical information
Leptolaena comprises 8 species and is endemic to Madagascar. It is related to Mediusella, Sarcolaena and Xerochlamys, and is best characterized by its free stipules, woody involucres and less than 15 stamens per flower. Mediusella and Xerochlamys have been included in Leptolaena, but recent morphological as well as molecular investigations support the separation. The wood of several other Leptolaena spp. is used for similar purposes as that of Leptolaena multiflora.
Leptolaena abrahamii
Leptolaena abrahamii G.E.Schatz & Lowry is a shrub or small tree up to 15 m tall with bole up to 70 cm in diameter, occurring in humid forest at medium altitudes in central-eastern Madagascar. Its wood is used for posts in house building, and the bark is added in the preparation of local alcoholic drinks as a bittering agent during fermentation.
Leptolaena cuspidata
Leptolaena cuspidata Baker is a shrub or small tree up to 15 m tall, occurring in fairly humid forest in north-western Madagascar. Its wood is also used for posts in house building, whereas bark decoctions are taken to treat lumbago and diarrhoea, and leaf decoctions are administered in vapour baths against fever and fatigue.
Leptolaena delphinensis
Leptolaena delphinensis G.E.Schatz & Lowry is a shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall with bole up to 20 cm in diameter, restricted to littoral forest near Tolañaro in south-eastern Madagascar. Its wood is used for posts and poles in house building, and the bark is added in the preparation of local alcoholic drinks as a bittering agent during fermentation.
Leptolaena gautieri
Leptolaena gautieri G.E.Schatz & Lowry is a small to medium-sized tree up to 15 m tall, occurring in fairly humid forest at medium altitudes in northern and eastern Madagascar. Its wood is also used for posts in house building.
Leptolaena pauciflora
Leptolaena pauciflora Baker is a shrub or small tree up to 15 m tall, widespread in central and eastern Madagascar from sea-level up to 2300 m altitude. Its wood is probably used in house construction similar to the other Leptolaena spp. Leaf decoctions are administered to treat syphilis, and a paste made from the roots is applied to the face as a beauty mask.
Leptolaena raymondii
Leptolaena raymondii G.E.Schatz & Lowry is a small tree up to 10 m tall with bole up to 20 cm in diameter, known only from one locality in eastern Madagascar. Its wood is used for posts in house construction and a tisane made from the leaves is administered to treat lumbago.
In 2001 various Leptolaena spp. have been separated from Leptolaena multiflora. This means that the information found in older literature under this name may refer to various species, and this is also the case for the information in this article on wood properties and anatomy.
Anatomy
Wood-anatomical description (IAWA hardwood codes):
- Growth rings: 1: growth ring boundaries distinct.
- Vessels: 5: wood diffuse-porous; (7: vessels in diagonal and/or radial pattern); 9: vessels exclusively solitary (90% or more); 13: simple perforation plates; 22: intervessel pits alternate; (24: intervessel pits minute (≤ 4 μm)); 25: intervessel pits small (4–7 μm); 30: vessel-ray pits with distinct borders; similar to intervessel pits in size and shape throughout the ray cell; 31: vessel-ray pits with much reduced borders to apparently simple: pits rounded or angular; 32: vessel-ray pits with much reduced borders to apparently simple: pits horizontal (scalariform, gash-like) to vertical (palisade); (33: vessel-ray pits of two distinct sizes or types in the same ray cell); 42: mean tangential diameter of vessel lumina 100–200 μm; 46: ≤ 5 vessels per square millimetre; 47: 5–20 vessels per square millimetre; 56: tyloses common.
- Tracheids and fibres: 62: fibres with distinctly bordered pits; 63: fibre pits common in both radial and tangential walls; 66: non-septate fibres present; 70: fibres very thick-walled.
- Axial parenchyma: 76: axial parenchyma diffuse; 77: axial parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates; 92: four (3–4) cells per parenchyma strand.
- Rays: 96: rays exclusively uniseriate; 104: all ray cells procumbent; (106: body ray cells procumbent with one row of upright and/or square marginal cells); 113: disjunctive ray parenchyma cell walls present; 116: ≥ 12 rays per mm.
- Mineral inclusions: 159: silica bodies present; 160: silica bodies in ray cells.
Growth and development
Flowering and fruiting trees of Leptolaena multiflora can be found nearly throughout the year. The flowers are visited by insects such as bees, which serve as pollinators. The seeds are probably dispersed by birds and lemurs, which feed on the fruits. Ectomycorrhizal as well as endomycorrhizal symbioses have been demonstrated for the roots.
Ecology
Leptolaena multiflora occurs mainly in coastal forest and evergreen forest on sandy soils, up to 200 m altitude, occasionally up to 1100 m.
Management
In littoral forest, Leptolaena multiflora occurs locally in high densities, up to 250 adult trees per ha. However, studies on natural regeneration show that the number of trees with a bole diameter of more than 10 cm is declining.
Genetic resources
Although Leptolaena multiflora occurs widespread in Madagascar, it is under much pressure because of selective exploitation of its timber for use in construction. There are only few protected areas in its area of distribution, and its habitat, i.e. littoral and lowland evergreen forest, is rapidly declining. Leptolaena multiflora is included in the IUCN Red List as endangered. All other Leptolaena spp. are also included in the IUCN Red List, 5 of them as endangered or critically endangered and only Leptolaena cuspidata and Leptolaena gautieri as ‘least concern’.
Prospects
Research on Leptolaena multiflora and other Leptolaena spp. is needed to safeguard them for the future. Major point of concern, next to their rapidly declining habitats, is poor natural regeneration. Moreover, information is needed on growth rates to give recommendations on appropriate forest management practices to ensure sustainable harvesting of the boles for construction purposes and of the bark for medicinal purposes.
Major references
- Bolza, E. & Keating, W.G., 1972. African timbers: the properties, uses and characteristics of 700 species. Division of Building Research, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia. 710 pp.
- Cavaco, A., 1952. Chlénacées (Chlaenaceae). Flore de Madagascar et des Comores (plantes vasculaires), famille 126. Firmin-Didot et cie., Paris, France. 37 pp.
- Guéneau, P. & Guéneau, D., 1969. Propriétés physiques et mécaniques des bois malgaches. Cahiers scientifiques No 2, Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 51 pp.
- Guéneau, P., Bedel, J. & Thiel, J., 1970–1975. Bois et essences malgaches. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 150 pp.
- Hong-Wa, C., 2003. Description, distribution, écologie, utilisation et risques d’extinction des espèces du genre Leptolaena Thouars sensu stricto (Sarcolaenaceae, famille endémique malgache). Mémoire de DEA en Ecologie Végétale, Faculté des Sciences, Université d’Antananarivo, Madagascar. 92 pp.
- Hong-Wa, C., 2003. Leptolaena Thouars. Ravintsara 1(4): 18.
- Hong-Wa, C., 2004. Leptolaena multiflora. In: IUCN. IUCN Red list of threatened species. Version 2011.2. [Internet] http://www.iucnredlist.org. November 2011.
- Sallenave, P., 1955. Propriétés physiques et mécaniques des bois tropicaux de l’Union française. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 129 pp.
- Schatz, G.E., Lowry II, P.P. & Wolf, A.-E., 2001. Endemic families of Madagascar. VII. A synoptic revision of Leptolaena Thouars sensu stricto (Sarcolaenaceae). Adansonia 23(2): 171–189.
- Takahashi, A., 1978. Compilation of data on the mechanical properties of foreign woods (part 3) Africa. Shimane University, Matsue, Japan. 248 pp.
Other references
- Boiteau, P., Boiteau, M. & Allorge-Boiteau, L., 1999. Dictionnaire des noms malgaches de végétaux. 4 Volumes + Index des noms scientifiques avec leurs équivalents malgaches. Editions Alzieu, Grenoble, France.
- Debray, M., Jacquemin, H. & Razafindrambao, R., 1971. Contribution à l’inventaire des plantes médicinales de Madagascar. Travaux et Documents No 8. ORSTOM, Paris, France. 150 pp.
- Groupe des spécialistes des plantes de Madagascar, 2011. Liste rouge des plantes vasculaires endémiques de Madagascar. 188 pp.
- Hong-Wa, C., 2009. Endemic families of Madagascar. XII. Resurrection and taxonomic revision of the genera Mediusella (Cavaco) Hutchinson and Xerochlamys Baker (Sarcolaenaceae). Adansonia, sér. 3, 31(2): 311–339.
- Neuwinger, H.D., 2000. African traditional medicine: a dictionary of plant use and applications. Medpharm Scientific, Stuttgart, Germany. 589 pp.
- Schatz, G.E., 2001. Generic tree flora of Madagascar. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 477 pp.
Sources of illustration
- Cavaco, A., 1952. Chlénacées (Chlaenaceae). Flore de Madagascar et des Comores (plantes vasculaires), famille 126. Firmin-Didot et cie., Paris, France. 37 pp.
- Du Petit-Thouars, L.M.A., 1805. Histoire des végétaux recueillis dans les isles australes d’Afrique. Levrault, Schoell et Cie. , Paris, France. 64 pp.
Author(s)
- S. Rakotonandrasana, Centre National d’Application des Recherches Pharmaceutiques, B.P. 702, 101 Antananarivo, Madagascar
Correct citation of this article
Rakotonandrasana, S., 2012. Leptolaena multiflora Thouars. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Louppe, D. & Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. Accessed 17 September 2026.
- See the Prota4U database.