Moringa pygmaea Verdcourt
Moringa pygmaea is the tiniest member of Moringa. This remarkable species is a delicate tuberous herb with very tiny leaflets on its tripinnate leaves.
The plant was "lost" for
over
twenty years, only having been known from the type specimen, collected
near
Qardho, Somalia, in 1980. In 2001, botanist Mats Thulin of Uppsala
visited
the Qardho area as part of the Flora of Somalia project. He found the
plant
in leaf, flower, and fruit. His excting photographs, shown below, are
the
first ever of the plant in habitat. The plant has not been seen since
and has never been brought into cultivation.
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Instituto
de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México
Circuito Exterior s/n, Ciudad Universitaria
Copilco, Coyoacán A. P. 70-367
C. P. 04510, México, D. F.
MÉXICO
(52)
55 5622-9124 fon (52) 55 5555-1760 fax
molson@ib.unam.mx