Tapia

Appearance

Tapia is a tree that can grow 10–12 metres high, but usually stays at 3–5 metres. Leaves are alternate and sclerophyllous. The bark is thick and furrowed. The tree is monoecious; its flowers appear from March to September.

Male flowers have five stamens and five tepals, and are clustered in dense balls with an involucre of 7–8 bracts. Female inflorescences are reduced to one flower with a trilocular ovary, surrounded by bracts. Fruits are drupes 2–3 centimetres in diameter, green to yellow, and brown when ripe. They contain a sweet, sticky mesocarp and three seeds.

Naming

The common name "tapia" is pronounced ''ta-pee'' in Malagasy. Tapia fruits are known as ''voan'tapia''. The species epithet of the scientific name, "''bojeri''", refers to the type specimen's collector, Wenceslas Bojer.

Distribution

Tapia is endemic to the central highlands of Madagascar, in the Madagascar subhumid forests ecoregion, at altitudes ranging from 500 to 1,800 metres. The main areas of occurrence are the Imamo zone west of the capital Antananarivo, the ''Col des Tapia'' between Antsirabe and Ambositra, the Itremo massif, and Isalo National Park. Within a broader sub-arid to sub-humid region, tapia woodland is found in drier, rain-shadow microclimates, mainly on acidic soil on sandstone, quartzite and schist.

Status

Tapia forest is valuable due to its endemic fauna and flora and its uses for local communities. Humans impact tapia forests mainly through collection of wood for fuel or timber, grazing, and fire. As of 2016, tapia has not been assessed for the IUCN red list. The ''Atlas of the Vegetation of Madagascar'' estimated tapia forest loss at around 43% since the 1970s, but admits that tapia cover is likely overestimated with satellite imagery.

The geographer Christian A. Kull argues that human interventions in tapia forests, including fire-setting and removal of dead wood, actually favour the growth of tapia trees and the associated silkworms. Rather than "forest", he uses the term "woodland" or "wooded savannas", implying a more open-canopy vegetation type. He suggests that tapia woodland has changed little in extent over the last century, and considers human impact a landscape "transformation" and form of sustainable use rather than a "degradation". Local legislation and traditions often ban the cutting of tapia trees. As main threat to tapia woodlands he sees the invasion by exotic trees, namely ''Eucalyptus'' and pines .

Uses

Tapia trees and the forests they form are used for several purposes by local communities. The edible fruits are collected once fallen, while a taboo prohibits plucking them directly from the tree. Fruits are not only consumed in local households but also marketed. The cocoons of the tapia silkworm ''Borocera madagascariensis'' are also collected and used for the production of silk, traditionally used for burial shrouds. This wild silk equally has a local market importance. Other uses include the collection of fuelwood, mushrooms, berries, edible insects, herbal medicines, and hunting .