Mora
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
(unranked): Dimorphandra Group A
Genus: Mora
Benth. (1839)
Species[1]

6; see text

Mora is a genus of large trees in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae[2] of the legume family Fabaceae, (or in some classifications the family Caesalpinaceae of the order Fabales).

There are six species, all native to lowland rainforests in northern South America, southern Central America, the southern Caribbean islands, and Hispaniola.[1] These are large, heavily buttressed rainforest trees up to 130 feet (40 meters) in height (to 190 feet (58 meters) in the case of M. excelsa ).[3] The genus is particularly noteworthy for the exceptional size of its beans, which are commonly acknowledged to be the largest known dicot seeds, in the instance of M. oleifera being up to seven inches (18 cm) in length, six inches (15 cm) in breadth and three inches (7.6 cm)in thickness,[4][5] and a weight of up to 2.2 pounds (1,000 grams).[6] These very large beans develop out of tiny flowers with a pistel only one millimeter wide [7] involving a growth of over 2,000,000 fold. The beans of Mora spp. are edible if boiled, and are also the source of a red dyestuff.[8] The species M. excelsa is one of the few rainforest trees to grow in pure stands.[9]

Some of the species are important for timber production. Mora excelsa and Mora gonggrijpii are also known as nato, and are commonly used in guitar body and neck construction.

References

  1. 1 2 Mora R.H.Schomb. ex Benth. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  2. ↑ The Legume Phylogeny Working Group (LPWG). (2017). "A new subfamily classification of the Leguminosae based on a taxonomically comprehensive phylogeny". Taxon. 66 (1): 44–77. doi:10.12705/661.3. hdl:10568/90658.
  3. ↑ Beard, J. S. (July 1946). "The Mora Forests of Trinidad...etc". Journal of Ecology. 33 (2): 173–192. doi:10.2307/2256464. JSTOR 2256464.
  4. ↑ http://www.inbio.ac.cr/bims/ubi/plantas/ubiespejo/ubiid2143&find.html%5B%5D
  5. ↑ Elbert L. Little and Robert G. Dixon, "Arboles Comunes de la Provincia de Esmerelda" (Rome: UNFAO, 1969)p. 222.
  6. ↑ Daniel H. Janzen, "Costa Rican Natural History" (Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press,1983) p. 281
  7. ↑ Encyclopedia Britanica (1970 edition ) Volume 13 page 911
  8. ↑ O.N. Allen and Ethel K. Allen, "The Leguminosae" (Madison: Univ. Wisconsin Press) pp. 445-446
  9. ↑ Ivan T. Sanderson and David Loth, "Ivan Sanderson's Book of Great Jungles" (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965) p. 116.
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