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Gonioma kamassi (Kamassi)
Kamassie [Afrikaans]
Life
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Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
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Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
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> Eudicotyledons > Core Eudicots > Asterids > Euasterid I >
Order: Gentianales > Family: Apocynaceae
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Leaves of Gonioma kamassi, showing how they
tend to be in whorls of three or four; Outeniqua Hiking Trail, December
2008. [photo H. Robertson ©] |
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Flowers of Gonioma kamassi are in terminal
clusters and this photograph also shows how the leaves tend to be
concentrated towards the end of branches; Outeniqua Hiking Trail,
December 2008. [photo H. Robertson ©] |
Close-up of one of the terminal clusters of
flowers shown in the left-hand image. [photo H. Robertson
©] |
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Broken-off petiole of Gonioma kamassi
showing the oozing milky sap. Sap can also be watery. Outeniqua Hiking
Trail, December 2008. [photo H. Robertson
©] |
Leaves of Gonioma kamassi: upperside (top)
and underside (below). Outeniqua Hiking Trail, December 2008. [photo H.
Robertson ©] |
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Trunk of young tree of Gonioma kamassi.
Outeniqua Hiking Trail, December 2008. [photo H. Robertson
©] |
Trunk of old tree of Gonioma kamassi,
showing the vertical fissuring of the trunk that comes with age.
Tsitsikamma Hiking Trail, December 2009. [photo H. Robertson
©] |
Gonioma kamassi grows as a shrub or small tree (up
to 10 m in height, but usually about 6 m) in the understorey of afromontane
forest. Its distribution is concentrated mainly in the eastern parts of the
Western Cape (in the Knysna forests), Eastern Cape and southern KwaZulu-Natal
but there are also scattered populations in afromontane forests of Swaziland,
Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
References
- Schmidt, E., Lötter, M. and McCleland, W. 2002. Trees and Shrubs of
Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park. Jacana, Johannesburg.
- van Wyk, B. and van Wyk, P. 1997. Field Guide to the Trees of
Southern Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
- Coates Palgrave, K. and Coates Palgrave, M. 2002. Trees of Southern
Africa, 3rd Edition. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
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