Maclura
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Maclura' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Family
- Moraceae
Synonyms
- Cudrania Trécul
Editorial Note
The genus has been revised since Bean’s text was prepared, and now includes species treated by Bean under Cudrania. The text below has been expanded and adapted to reflect the updated taxonomy. A fuller, revised treatment will be provided when funding is available. If you would like to sponsor the account of this genus please write to editor@treesandshrubsonline.org
A genus of thirteen mainly tropical species (POWO 28/4/25) from East Asia, the Southwest Pacific, Eastern Australia, East Africa and North and South America. Until well into the twentieth century Maclura was treated as a monotypic genus containing only the North American M. pomifera, but was subsequently enlarged by Corner (1962) and then Berg (1986) to include four other genera, including Cudrania (treated by Bean), referred to Maclura sect. Cudrania (Trécul) Corner.
Maclura bears male flowers in dense clusters or more rarely in racemes; female flowers are in dense globose clusters developing into a compound accessory fruit. The five species in sect. Cudrania lack the ballistic inflexed stamens characteristic of all other species in tribe Moreae.
Named in honour of William Maclure, an American geologist.
