Abstract
Vitellaria paradoxa leafing, flowering and fruiting patterns were monitored in Otuke county (Lira district), northern Uganda, over a period of 25 months. The monitoring revealed that leaf shedding takes place in the middle of the dry season and the trees are in full leaf by the onset of the wet season. New leaves continue to appear on the new shoots while old leaves persist during the leaf-fall period. The pattern of leafing and leaf loss, flowering and fruiting are unimodal with major peaks in flowering and fruiting, although in the study area rainfall is bimodal. Flowering was concentrated in months when the atmospheric relative humidity begins to rise from an initially low value (around November), peaks three months later and usually ends when rainy conditions persist. Flowers produced during the rainy season usually abort. Fruiting starts at the end of the dry season (December/January) and peaks from February to April. Seed matures during the rainy season (March to May) and fruit harvesting occurs mainly from May to August, when the soil is well supplied with plant available water but coinciding with high pre-growing season famine risk in the community.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abd El-Ghani M.M. 1997. Phenology of ten common plants species in western Saudi Arabia. Journal of Arid Environments 35: 673–683.
Augspurger C.K. 1983. Phenology, flowering synchrony and fruit-set of six neotropical shrubs. Biotropica 15: 257–267.
Boffa J.-M. 1999. Agroforestry parklands in sub-Saharan Africa. FAO Conservation Guide 34: 1–230.
Bonkoungou E.G. 1987. Monographie du Karité Butryospermum paradoxa (Gaernt. F.) Hepper, espèce agroforestiére à usages multiples. Institute de Recherche en Biologie et Ecologie Tropicale. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 69 pp.
Borchert R. 1994. Water status and development of tropical trees during seasonal drought. Trees 8: 115–125.
Dafni A. 1992. Pollination ecology. a practical approach. Oxford University Press, London. 256 pp.
FAO 1984. Agroclimatical data for Africa. FAO Plant Production and Protection Series 22: 1–537.
FAO-UNESCO 1977. Soil map of the world: 1:5,000,000. 6. Africa, UNESCO, Paris. 299 pp.
Fleury J.M. 1981. The butter tree. International Development Research Centre Reports, 10: 6–9.
Fowler J., Cohen L. and Jarvis P. 1998. Practical statistics for field biology, 2nd Edition. Wiley, Chichester. 259 pp.
Hall J.B., Aebisher P.D., Tomlinson H.F., Osei-Amaning E. and Hindle J.R. 1996. Vitellaria paradoxa: a monograph. School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor. 105 pp.
Huxley P.A. 1983. Phenology of tropical woody perennials and seasonal crop plants with reference to their management in agroforestry systems. In Huxley PA (Ed.). Plant research and agroforestry, pp. 503–525. ICRAF, Nairobi.
Janzen D.H. 1967. Synchronization of sexual reproduction of trees within the dry season in Central America. Evolution 21: 620–637.
Khan J.A. 1999. Periodicity of major phenophases in woody species in dry deciduous forest of Gir, India. Tropical Ecology 40(2): 299–303.
Langdale-Brown I., Osmaston H.A. and Wilson J.G. 1964. The vegetation of Uganda and its bearing on land use. Government Printer, Entebbe. 159 pp.
Lieberman D. 1982. Seasonality and phenology in a dry tropical forest in Ghana. Journal of Ecology 70: 791–806.
Masters E.T. and Puga A. 1994. Conservation of woodland of Butryospermum paradoxum for local conservation and development. Cooperative Office for Voluntary Organisations of Uganda, Kampala. 44 pp.
Nok-Rach C. 2000. Ecological and social assessment of pests and their impact on Vitellaria paradoxa subsp. nilotica in northeastern parklands of Uganda. B.Sc. thesis Makerere University, Kampala.
Okullo J.B.L., Hall J.B. and Eliot M. 2003. Reproductive biology and Breeding systems of Vitellaria paradoxa. In INCO: International Scientific Cooperation Projects 1998-2002: Improved Management of agroforestry parkland systems in Sub Saharan Africa. Final report: Teklehaimanot Z. (Ed.). School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, Bangor, UK. p. 66–84.
Ruyssen B. 1957. Le karité au Soudan. Agronomie Tropicale 12: 143–172, 279-306, 415-440.
Seghieri J., Floret C.H. and Pontanier R. 1995. Plant phenology in relation to water availability: herbaceous and woody species in the savannas of northern Cameroon. Journal of Tropical Ecology 11: 237–254.
Tybirk K. 1993. Pollination, breeding system and seed abortion in some African Acacias. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 112: 107–137.
Van Schaik C.P., Terborgh J.W. and Wright S.J. 1993. The phenology of tropical forests: an adaptive significance and consequences for primary consumers. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 24: 353–377.
White F. 1983. The vegetation of Africa. (UNESCO Natural Resources Research, 20). UNESCO, Paris. 356 pp.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Okullo, J., Hall, J.B. & Obua, J. Leafing, flowering and fruiting of Vitellaria paradoxa subsp. nilotica in savanna parklands in Uganda. Agroforestry Systems 60, 77–91 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:AGFO.0000009407.63892.99
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:AGFO.0000009407.63892.99