Moringa oleifera
Lam.
(Kelor)
 |
Picture 7. Moringa oleifera
(Hidayat & Abdurrahman, 2017)
Classification
Kingdom : Plantae
Kingdom : Plantae
Divisi : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Brassicales
Family : Moringaceae
Genus : Moringa Adans.
Species :
Moringa oleifera Lam.
Other Scientific Names
Other Scientific Names
·
Guilandina
moringa L.
·
Hyperanthera
moringa (L.) Vahl
·
Moringa
zeylanica Burmann
Description
Moringa
oleifera is a small, fast-growing, drought-deciduous tree,
often 8-10 m tall, sometimes to 12-18 m. It has a wide-open, typically
umbrella-shaped crown, usually with a single clear bole, with smooth, light
coloured or greyish-green bark. It tends to be deep-rooted. Leaves
imparipinnate, rachis 12-25 cm long, pubescent, 2-6 pairs of pinna 3-6 mm long,
each with 3-5 pairs of pale green, obovate leaflets 1-2 cm long, terminal
leaflets slightly larger, basal leaflet pairs sometime tripinnate. The foliage
is light and moves in the slightest breeze giving light shade. Sweet-scented
flowers, cream white, arranged in panicles, with 5 unequal petals slightly
larger than the sepals, yellow dots at the base, petals narrowly spathulate,
veined, white, bracts linear, calyx 5-lobed, linear-lanceolate, reflexed,
puberulous outside, 5 stamens, fertile alternating with 5-7 staminodes,
filaments villous at the base, ovary 1-celled, oblong, villous, ovules many,
style slender. The long, pointed and triangular cross-section fruits are very
distinctive, up to 1-2 cm broad, often 30-50 cm long, up to 120 cm long in some
cultivated varieties, containing oily black seeds up to 1 cm in diameter in a
typical 3-winged seed coat. Unripe green pods are somewhat fleshy, becoming
fibrous and greyish when mature, persistent on the tree. In India, trees shed
leaves in December-January followed by regrowth in February-March; flowering is
in January-March with ripe fruits in April-June, but all year round in irrigated
conditions (Cabi, 2019).
Spot
Character
The flowers are fragrant with pale
yellow petal.
Distribution
Tropical and subtropical Asia
Benefit
Medicinal plant
Location
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