Flowering and fruiting patterns in Milicia excelsa and Milicia regia welw

The reproductive biology of Milicia excelsa and M. regia was studied The major distinguishing traits were crown shape, bark texture and leaf traits such as shape, dimension, colour, number of lateral nerves and arrangement on branchelets. Male and female trees are distinguished by the size of crown and tree trunk, forking characteristics, and distribution and abundance of flowers in the crown. Male flowers in general are longer and slender than female flowers.

It takes approximately 5-6 weeks from time of fertilization maturation. Premature abscission of fruits is not uncommon. While fruiting may not occur every year the results suggests that in a good fruiting year odum tree can be quite prolific. The observational reported here have implications in breeding programme for odum.