Xylopia
Read about Xylopia in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Xylopia (from the Greek Xylopikron, bitter wood). Annonaceae. Shrubs and trees grown mostly for their fruits, and also for spices and other products. The genus resembles other Annonaceae in having alternate distichous entire lvs., and fls. with 6 petals in 2 series, but distinguished by the form of the torus, or receptacle, which has a concavity in the middle including the carpels, surrounded by a ring of stamens borne on the convex portion of the receptacle: infl. instead of being extra-axillary or lf.-opposed, as in many other genera of the family, consists of short-stemmed or sessile fls. growing from the axils of the lvs., either solitary or in clusters of 2 to several: calyx with 3 valvate sepals connate for some distance from the base; outer petals elongate, thick, valvate, and connivent, or scarcely opening, and triquetrous above, inclosing the 3 inner linear petals, which are concave at the base; after anthesis the receptacle undergoes a transformation, its center becomes depressed so as to form a cone-like sac, while its margin grows in such a way as to form a dome with an orifice at its apex; through this orifice protrude the styles, while the ovaries occupy the cavity, and the surface of the dome in most species is covered with the crowded stamens, the expanded connectives of which form a sort of tile-like covering to the pollen-sacs; carpels vary in number and the ovaries have a ventral placenta bearing an indefinite number of ovules primitively arranged in 2 vertical rows: fr. consists of clusters of berries either sessile or shortly stipitate, more or less elongate, often constricted between the seeds, which have a ruminate endosperm, like other members of the Annonaceae, and in many cases there is an aril on both sides of the terminal umbilicus. In the African species, sometimes separated as a distinct genus under the name Habzelia, instead of a central cavity there is only a slight depression at the summit of the torus or even none at all. In the genus Pseudannona, treated by Baillon as a section of Xylopia, but given generic rank by the writer (see Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 3:16. 1913), both the corolla and the fr. differ radically from those of Xylopia. The inner petals form a diminutive acute triquetrous corolla over the essential parts, and the outer ones, much broader and longer, recall by their form and the thickness of their margin the fls. of certain species of Annona, while their few-seeded frs. are thick and fleshy, when mature suggesting the frs. of our common Asimina triloba. It is intended here to describe only the species of economic importance. Xylopia aethiopica, X. Eminii, X. aromatica, X. carminativa, X. frutescens, and X. grandiflora are worthy of cultivation for the sake of their spicy fruits; while X. parvifolia and X. nigricans of Ceylon are desirable for the exquisite perfume of their flowers, which like those of the ilang-ilang (Canangium odoratum) might be utilized as a source of an essential oil for use in perfumery. Propagation is possible either by seeds or by grafting and budding, as in the case of other Annonaceae. Seeds should be sown as soon as ripe in shaded beds and the small seedlings should be transferred to pots and kept until ready for planting out, preferably in good, well-drained soil in sheltered situations.
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References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Xylopia. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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