Klainedoxa gabonensis Pierre ex Engl.

Tree to 45 m tall; buttresses to 5 m high; bole straight and unbranched for 20-25 m; immature trees with spines up to 12 cm long on the trunk; crown frequently spherical but very variable in shape; foliage generally somewhat bunched except on individ-uals with the largest leaves; terminal buds covered by stipules, narrowly lanceolate, clearly visible protruding above the leaves in the few months before flowering or production of new leaves; stip-ules 5-15 cm long, keeled and longitudinally ridged. Leaves broadly ovate, ovate, narrow elliptic to elliptic, occasionally oblong; apex tapering gradually to an acute point, rarely with a distinct acumen; base acute to cordate, often slightly asymmetri-cal; length 6-20 cm, width 3-10 cm; coriaceous; secondary veins (12-)14-22; tertiary venation rather obscured by striking reticu-late quaternary venation, areolae diam. 0.2-0.3 mm; leaves of saplings more elongate than adult leaves and significantly longer, to 52 cm with stipules to 25 cm long. Inflorescence at erminal pan-icle to 13 cm long, peduncles red. Flowers with pink pedicels 1- 8 mm long; sepals pink, 1.8-2 mm long; petals white often tinged pink, 2.8-3.5(-4) mm long; filaments white, 4-6 mm long; anthers dark purple; disc bright yellow, 2-2.5 mm diam.; ovary pink. Fruit depressed globose, sometimes 5 lobed, (occasionally with 5 sharp longitudinal crests on dried fruit), hard and green, often turning dull greenish purple or dull orange, 3.5-6.1 cm long, 4.5-9.2 cm wide; immature fruit purple with a slight white bloom; pyrenes wedge shaped with rounded processes, very hard, usually separate when the mesocarp rots. Seeds 2.1-3.5 cm long, 6-12 mm wide, 3-5 mm thick, elliptic in transverse section; endosperm equal to cotyledons in size, visible in transverse sec-tion of the fruit.

Source: Harris DJ. 1996. A Revision of the Irvingiaceae in Africa. Bulletin du Jardin botanique national de Belgique 65:143—196.