Piliostigma thonningii
(Schumach.) Milne-Redh. · speciesAt a glance
Sources11 archives
Databases and archives Piliostigma thonningii's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation2 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility6 316 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI8 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics9 specimens↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Piliostigma thonningii - MHNT Piliostigma thonningii is a species of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Cercidoideae. Common names of this tree include camel's foot tree, monkey bread, monkey biscuit tree, Rhodesian bauhinia and wild bauhinia. Piliostigma thonningii grows quickly relative to some other tree species it competes with, and relies on rapid re-growth to survive bush fires. It grows up to 5 - tall, with leaves that are similar to a bauhinia, but it differs from bauhinia by having separate male and female flowers on separate trees. The flower petals are white and the thick, calyces (or seed pods) are covered in rust coloured hairs. The pods do not spilt (like other tree pods) but fall from the branches, then rot whilst on the ground, releasing the seeds. The inner bark of the tree has been used to make rope. It grows in wooded grassland or woodland.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology9
Life cycle & reproduction8
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment11
Physiology & chemistry3
Other traits1
Compounds documented for Piliostigma thonningii across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds82 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| (+)-3-Carene | present | NPASS | |
| (+)-alpha-Pinene | present | NPASS | |
| (+)-beta-Phellandrene | present | NPASS | |
| (-)-beta-Phellandrene | present | NPASS | |
| (-)-beta-Pinene | present | NPASS | |
| (-)-Borneol | present | NPASS | |
| (1R,4aS,4bR,7R,9R,10aR)-7-ethenyl-1-(hydroxymethyl)-1,4a,7-trimethyl-3,4,4b,5,6,9,10,10a-octahydro-2H-phenanthren-9-ol | present | NPASS | |
| (1R,4aS,4bR,8aS,10aS)-8a-ethenyl-1,4a,7-trimethyl-3,4,4b,5,6,9,10,10a-octahydro-2H-phenanthrene-1-carboxylic acid | present | NPASS | |
| (1R,4aS,4bS,10aR)-1,4a-dimethyl-7-propan-2-yl-2,3,4,4b,5,6,10,10a-octahydrophenanthrene-1-carboxylic acid | present | NPASS | |
| (1S,4S,5S,9S,10R,13R,14R)-14-hydroxy-5,9,14-trimethyltetracyclo[11.2.1.01,10.04,9]hexadecane-5-carboxylic acid | present | LOTUS |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Piliostigma thonningii has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Piliostigma thonningii carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 241×CCDB · book-ipcn65
2n 261×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl
n 131×CCDB · Cannon, 2015
polyploid inferred1×PloiDB · family-scale
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type6 316 records
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions16 of 73 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Pretoria, ZA | 99 |
| MeiseBGlocation not on record | 64 |
| Saint Louis, US | 63 |
| Kew, GB | 48 |
| Yaoundé, CM | 47 |
| Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropicallocation not on record | 44 |
| WAGlocation not on record | 33 |
| LSF/FSA/UAClocation not on record | 22 |
| Embrapa Agrobiology Diazothrophic Microbial Culture Collectionlocation not on record | 22 |
| National Herbarium & Botanic Gardens of Malawilocation not on record | 19 |
| Université du Lomélocation not on record | 19 |
| Leiden University Medical Centerlocation not on record | 17 |
| LSFlocation not on record | 12 |
| EFGlocation not on record | 12 |
| CNF-UFHBlocation not on record | 9 |
| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record | 8 |
| Paris, FR | 8 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 7 |
| Berlin, DE | 7 |
| Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles (CRSN/Lwiro)location not on record | 6 |
| Clocation not on record | 6 |
| Haramaya Universitylocation not on record | 6 |
| BRLUlocation not on record | 5 |
| Addis Ababa, ET | 5 |
| Herbier National du Gabonlocation not on record | 5 |
| University of Johannesburglocation not on record | 4 |
| Institut de Recherche Agronomique de Guinée (IRAG)location not on record | 4 |
| Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoirelocation not on record | 4 |
| Arusha, TZ | 4 |
| Plocation not on record | 4 |
| Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung: Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseumlocation not on record | 4 |
| MAlocation not on record | 4 |
| Glocation not on record | 3 |
| FTlocation not on record | 3 |
| Forest Herbarium Ibadan (FHI)location not on record | 3 |
| HNBlocation not on record | 3 |
| Montpellier, FR | 3 |
| Mlocation not on record | 3 |
| EAlocation not on record | 3 |
| Elocation not on record | 3 |
| Université National du Béninlocation not on record | 3 |
| Uppsala, SE | 3 |
| LNBG$location not on record | 3 |
| LBVlocation not on record | 3 |
| Bronx, US | 2 |
| Durban, ZA | 2 |
| Cape Town, ZA | 2 |
| University of Johannesburg, Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnologylocation not on record | 2 |
| LDlocation not on record | 2 |
| MSB-3054location not on record | 2 |
| Aarhus, DK | 1 |
| Centre National de Floristique - Université Félix HOUPHOUËT-BOIGNYlocation not on record | 1 |
| San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record | 1 |
| Buffelskloof Nature Reservelocation not on record | 1 |
| Sokoine University of Agriculturelocation not on record | 1 |
| LISClocation not on record | 1 |
| MUHNAClocation not on record | 1 |
| Centro de Biotecnologia e Quimica-CEBIQlocation not on record | 1 |
| National Museums of Kenyalocation not on record | 1 |
| CASlocation not on record | 1 |
| Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Laboratory, Gorongosa NPlocation not on record | 1 |
| Nnamdi Azikiwe University Herbarium (NAUH)location not on record | 1 |
| UEPAlocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Hamburglocation not on record | 1 |
| Botanic Gardenlocation not on record | 1 |
| TAFORI-LSRClocation not on record | 1 |
| Njala Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Oxfordlocation not on record | 1 |
| Eduardo Mondlane Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Stellenboschlocation not on record | 1 |
| Coimbra, PT | 1 |
| UJlocation not on record | 1 |
| BMlocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Piliostigma thonningii was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.