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Leaflet No. 20 Tree Seed Information Leaflet Spathodea campanulata Species: Spathodea campanulata P. Beauv. Family: ...

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Leaflet No. 20

Tree Seed Information Leaflet

Spathodea campanulata

Species: Spathodea campanulata P. Beauv. Family: Bignoniaceae Common name: Nandi flame, African tulip tree Local name: Kibobakasi (Swahili) Mutsulia (Luhya) Nyawend agwata (Luo) Sebetaiyet (Nandi) Repko (Pokot) Ekakale (Teso) Description: Spathodea campanulata is a deciduous tree, usually 10-30m tall. Bark is pale grey and smooth, becoming rough and scaly with age. Leaves are compound with 3-6 pairs of leaflets plus a central leaflet, shoots, branchlet, buds and underside of leaves with yellow-brown hairs. Flowers are bright orange-red, with yellow margin and throat. The furry buds contains watery liquid. A yellow-flowered variety exists. Mature fruits are dark brown, oblong, woody capsules, about 25 cm long, containing many flat winged seeds. Distribution: The species natural habitat is riverine forests between 1,500-2,000m. It is widely planted as ornamental throughout the country in areas with sufficient rainfall from coast to 2,000m. It does best in red loam soil but can also grow in black cotton soil. It is drought resistant once established. Flowering and fruiting: Flowering occurs in May (Nairobi). Pollination is by insect. Mature fruits can be collected in February. Seed collection method: The mature fruits (capsules) are collected from the crown by climbing the tree to harvest them using hand secateur or cutting them down using looping shears. Seed extraction and drying and cleaning: The ripe fruits/capsules are sun dried until they split to release seeds. Capsules, leaves and other impurities are then separated from seed by hand sorting. The clean seeds are sun dried to the required moisture content (