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Accession Data:

Napoleonaea beninensis Jongkind

  • Common Name: Napoleonaea
  • Family: Lecythidaceae Poit.

  • Country of Origin: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria
  • Habitat: Stream banks in dry forest and in fringing forest in the savanna zone

  • Description: Shrub 2 m high to 15 m high tree. Leaves alternate; petiole 3-6 mm long; lamina 7-15 × 3-7 cm, ovate), and broadly tapering to each end; wider than oblanceolate.">obovate to elliptic, glabrous, with 4-7 pairs of main laterals; base rounded to acute; apex acuminate. Inflorescences cauliflorous but also between the leaves. Flowers sessile or almost so. Calyx with 5 valvate lobes. Corolla to 5 cm in diam., basal half completely dark red spreading out in star-pattern. Free outer corona rays 10 mm long, often with red tip; inner corona 15 mm long, red at base and apex, pale yellowish in between. Fruit up to 6 cm wide and 5 cm high, yellow or orange, with colourless, edible pulp.1
  • USDA Zone: 10-12

Accession Data:

  • Accession # 199800130
  • Source: Tim Devine - CSU Chico
  • Provenance:
    Received as Napoleonaea vogelii from CSU Chico.
    
    Correspondence with Chad Husby at Fairchild BG in May 2015 revealed this is actually N. beninensis. 
    
  • Accession Date: 09-17-1998
  • Bench: 1103 - AFR:Ground Bed 1 NE
    • Currently: active - healthy
    • Qty: 1 confirmed on 02-26-2025

Classification:

  • Division: Magnoliophyta
  • Class: Magnoliopsida
  • SubClass: asterids
  • Order: Ericales
  • SubOrder:
  • Family: Lecythidaceae
  • SubFamily: Napoleonaeoideae
  • Tribe:
  • SubTribe:

Flowering Data:

This accession has been observed in bloom on:
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008

References (internal):

  • Medicinal Plants
  • Cauliflory
  • EEB Greenhouse Holdings native to: Benin / Ghana / Ivory Coast / Nigeria / Togo

References (external):

  1. Prance, Jongkind, A Revision of African Lecythidaceae, Kew Bulletin (2015) 70:6. Downloaded 20 May 2015.
  2. Image #00 & #03 courtesy Scott Zona, Florida International University. CC

data regenerated on Wed, 26 Feb 2025 11:27:05 -0500 [bcm v4.0]

Images:

Napoleonaea beninensis

Additional images for this accession:

Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Current Accessions in the Lecythidaceae

Subfamily Barringtonioideae

  • Barringtonia racemosa

Subfamily Lecythidoideae

  • Couroupita guianensis

Subfamily Napoleonaeoideae

  • Napoleonaea beninensis
W/C = Wild Collected
= indicates flowering in past 14 days
= images available for this accession
= map available for this accession
= accession added within past 90 days
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