Sclerocarya birrea
species of plant
Sclerocarya birrea commonly known as marula, is a medium-sized deciduous fruit-bearing tree, indigenous to the miombo woodlands of Southern Africa, the Sudano-Sahelian range of West Africa, the savanna woodlands of East Africa and Madagascar.
Etymology
The genus Sclerocarya derives from Ancient Greek: σκληρός ⟨sklērós⟩ meaning "hard" and κάρυον ⟨káryon⟩ "nut" in reference to the stone inside the fleshy fruit. The common name marula is borrowed from Tswana (or a closely related language) morula, which refers to the marula tree.
Description
The tree is a single-stemmed species with a broad, spreading crown. It is distinguished by its grey mottled bark and can grow up to 18 metres (59 ft) tall, primarily in low altitudes and open woodlands. The distribution of this species throughout Africa and Madagascar has followed the Bantu in their migrations. There is some evidence of human domestication of marula trees, as trees found on farm lands tend to have larger fruit size.
The fruits are oblong or ovate, about 3–4 centimetres (1.2–1.6 in), rarely attaining 5 centimetres (2.0 in), and ripen between February and March or somewhat later into April; they have a light yellow skin (exocarp), with white flesh (mesocarp). They fall to the ground when unripe and green in colour, and then ripen to a yellow colour on the ground. They are succulent and tart with a strong and distinctive flavour.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sclerocarya birrea” as species of plant. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of plant. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q675778. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sclerocarya birrea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.