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Uapaca bojeri
Uapaca bojeri, known as tapia, is a tree endemic to Madagascar's central highlands, where it forms sclerophyllous woodland. It is a slow, hardy tree of seasonally dry tropical highland climates, valued locally for its edible fruit and wild silk.
Uapaca bojeri, or tapia (Malagasy pronunciation: ta-pee), is a tree species endemic to Madagascar. A characteristic element of the Madagascan flora, it occurs in the central highlands, where it dominates a type of sclerophyllous forest or woodland. Tapia forest has a high ecological value due to the fauna, flora, and funga it harbours, and is of economic interest to the local population, e.g. for collection of tapia fruits, firewood, mushrooms or wild silkworms, and hunting. Local impact through fire and cutting is seen as a form of sustainable use however tapia woodlands are now found only in scattered, isolated stands totaling at most 132,255 ha. Native woody vegetation of the central highlands is increasingly replaced by grasslands, primarily due to increased fire frequency as areas are burned annually.
Tapia is endemic to the central highlands of Madagascar, in the Madagascar subhumid forests ecoregion, at altitudes ranging from 500 to 1,800 metres (1,600 to 5,900 ft). The main areas of occurrence are the Imamo zone west of the capital Antananarivo, the Col des Tapia ("saddle of the tapia") between Antsirabe and Ambositra, the Itremo massif, and Isalo National Park. Within a broader sub-arid to sub-humid region, tapia woodland is found in drier, rain-shadow microclimates, mainly on acidic soil on sandstone, quartzite and schist.
Tapia trees and the forests they form are used for several purposes by local communities. The edible fruits are collected once fallen, while a taboo (fady) prohibits plucking them directly from the tree. Fruits are not only consumed in local households but also marketed. The cocoons of the tapia silkworm Borocera cajani (in Malagasy landibe) are also collected and used for the production of silk, traditionally used for burial shrouds. This wild silk equally has a local market importance. Other uses include the collection of fuelwood, mushrooms, berries, edible insects, herbal medicines, and hunting (including two species of tenrec).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Uapaca bojeri by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
