Morphological characters of Detarium microcarpum Guill. and Perr.in southern Mali

Introduction. Detarium microcarpum is an important fruit-bearing species in the south of Mali. The objective of this work was the morphological characterization of certain populations of D. microcarpum, which would be a necessary step for a subsequent study of the genetic structure of the species. Materials and methods. Morphological observations related to twenty-three agronomic characters, studied on twenty-five trees selected from ten populations located in southern Mali. Results and discussion. The study showed that there was a variability between the populations, which related to the characters measured on the fruit, the seed and the leaf. Three shapes of mature fruit and one shape of seed were identified. Conclusion. Results obtained do not make it possible to affirm the existence of different varieties within the species D. microcarpum. The study will thus have to be extended to the observation of other characters, and relate to the whole of the D. microcarpum distribution area in the Sahel. © 2002 Cirad/EDP Sciences.