Musanga cecropioides

Musanga cecropioides (African Corkwood, Umbrella Tree) is a species of flowering plant in the Urticaceae family. It is typical to the secondary forests from Sierra Leone to Angola and eastward to Uganda.

Description
It is a evergreen tree that can reach a heights up to 100 ft. Its trunk is 1 to 3 ft in diameter and has a pale whitish/yellowish tone. The leaves are alternate, with 12-15 leaflets emerging from the stalk tip, with grayish-white hair below. All flowers are axillary. The male flowers are found in branched clusters, while females are found on compact heads on long stalks. The fruit is yellowish-green in color and ovular.

Ecology
The plant is a myrmecophyte, housing ants of the Crematogaster gens. It seems that M. cecropioides acts as a replacement for dead wood in secondary forests, which is very scarce.

Taxonomy and systematics
Under the Cronquist system, the plant is related to the Cecropiaceae family. Other authors have compared it to the Moraceae.

The specific name, cecropioides refers to the resemblance of this tree to the Cecropia, a genus of South American trees.

Other names

 * Aboriginal: N'Govoge, doe, umbrella tree, kombo-kombo, musanga, musanda, Govwi
 * French: parasolier