Mora (plant)
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Mora is a genus of large trees in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae<ref name="6subfamilies">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name = powo/>
SpeciesEdit
- Mora abbottii Britton & Rose — cola tree, coi, col (Dominican Republic)
- Mora ekmanii (Urb.) Britton & Rose (Hispaniola - Dominican Republic, Haiti)
- Mora excelsa Benth. — nato, nato rojo, mora (Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela)
- Mora gonggrijpii (Kleinhoonte) Sandwith — Moraboekea (Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela)
- Mora oleifera (Hemsl.) Ducke (Panama, Colombia)
- Mora paraensis (Ducke) Ducke — pracuuba (Brazil)
DescriptionEdit
These are large, heavily buttressed rainforest trees up to Template:Convert in height (to Template:Convert in the case of M. excelsa).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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 Template:Convert in length, Template:Convert in breadth and Template:Convertin thickness,<ref>http://www.inbio.ac.cr/bims/ubi/plantas/ubiespejo/ubiid2143&find.htmlTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>Elbert L. Little and Robert G. Dixon, "Arboles Comunes de la Provincia de Esmerelda" (Rome: UNFAO, 1969)p. 222.</ref> and a weight of up to Template:Convert.<ref>Daniel H. Janzen, "Costa Rican Natural History" (Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press,1983) p. 281</ref> These very large beans develop out of tiny flowers with a pistil only one millimeter wide <ref>Encyclopedia Britanica (1970 edition ) Volume 13 page 911</ref> involving a growth of over 2,000,000 fold. The species M. excelsa is one of the few rainforest trees to grow in pure stands.<ref>Ivan T. Sanderson and David Loth, "Ivan Sanderson's Book of Great Jungles" (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965) p. 116.</ref>
UsesEdit
The beans of Mora spp. are edible if boiled, and are also the source of a red dyestuff.<ref>O.N. Allen and Ethel K. Allen, "The Leguminosae" (Madison: Univ. Wisconsin Press) pp. 445-446</ref> 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.