Editing Uvaria lucida

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; width: 320px; margin-left: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1em;"
! colspan="2" style="background: #e8e8e8;" | Uvaria lucida
|-
! Scientific name
| ''Uvaria lucida''
|-
! Genus
| [[Uvaria]]
|-
! Family
| [[Annonaceae]]
|-
! Order
| [[Magnoliales]]
|-
! Habit
| Shrub or climber
|-
! Native range
| East Africa
|-
! Fruit
| Fleshy, sweet fruit; ripe fruit used for juice in a Tanzanian food-plant record
|-
! Propagation
| Seed
|}

''Uvaria lucida'' is an East African shrub or climber in the family Annonaceae.<sup id="cite_ref-1">[[#cite_note-1|[1]]]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-2">[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> It occurs in lowland dry evergreen forest, wooded grassland, coastal bushland, riverine forest and Brachystegia woodland, with records extending from sea level to about 1,500 m.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

== Description ==

The plant is usually described as a 1.2–4.5 m shrub, although it may scramble or climb with stems reaching about 7 m.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> The regional flora treatment for ''Uvaria lucida'' subsp. ''virens'' describes a scrambling shrub or liane, rarely a small tree, with elliptic-oblong to oblanceolate leathery leaves.<sup id="cite_ref-3">[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> That subspecies treatment records yellowish-green to dull green fleshy flowers 1.5–3 cm across in terminal or leaf-opposed clusters of one to three flowers.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

== Cultivation ==

=== Soil and water ===

The recorded habitats span dry evergreen forest, wooded grassland, coastal bushland, riverine forest and Brachystegia woodland.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> As a habitat-based inference, cultivation should provide a draining medium with access to consistent moisture during active growth, while avoiding a permanently saturated root zone; the species account supplies no fixed irrigation schedule or soil formula. Keep the habitat variation in mind rather than treating one wetness regime as universal for the species.

=== Sun and humidity ===

Forest, woodland and dense-thicket records indicate that exposure is likely to vary substantially in nature.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> A conservative habitat-based starting point is filtered light with good airflow, with stronger exposure treated as a plant-response question rather than an assumed requirement. The available species account gives no measured shade, humidity or temperature limits.

=== Seasonal changes ===

The regional flora treatment records flowering in November for subsp. ''virens'' in its regional scope.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> That date should not be transferred to every population of ''Uvaria lucida''. The species range includes both dry evergreen and riverine settings, so irrigation and protection should follow the local wet/dry rhythm and the plant's active growth rather than a fixed calendar derived from the subspecies record.

== Propagation ==

Seed propagation is recorded for ''Uvaria lucida''.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> No germination treatment, storage period, sowing schedule, germination rate or vegetative method is specified in the available species account, so those details are not presented as established practice here.

== Flowering, fruiting, and harvest ==

The regional flora record for subsp. ''virens'' describes one to three flowers per cluster and gives November as its flowering period in that regional treatment.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> It also describes fruits as 10–20 more or less cylindrical, several-seeded carpels about 2.5 cm long, dark to orange-brown and finely hairy.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> These measurements and the flowering date belong to the subspecies treatment and should not be silently generalized to all plants sold or identified as ''Uvaria lucida''. A bearing age, pollination requirement and species-wide harvest calendar are not supplied.

== Fruit and uses ==

A Tanzania food-plant record describes ripe fruit as fleshy and sweet, eaten raw and used for juice; the same record gives globose to cylindrical fruits 9–30 mm long in clusters of 10–20.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> Those food and fruit measurements are retained as a scoped record rather than a universal description of every population. The roots are said to be poisonous in that record.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> This is a plant-part-specific caution; it does not establish that the fruit is toxic or that other parts are safe.

== References ==

* <span id="cite_note-1"></span>[[#cite_ref-1|↑]] '''[1]''' [https://api.gbif.org/v1/species/match?name=Uvaria%20lucida GBIF species match: Uvaria lucida].

* <span id="cite_note-2"></span>[[#cite_ref-2|↑]] '''[2]''' [https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Uvaria+lucida Uvaria lucida - Useful Tropical Plants].

* <span id="cite_note-3"></span>[[#cite_ref-3|↑]] '''[3]''' [https://www.mozambiqueflora.com/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=123790 Flora of Mozambique: Species information: Uvaria lucida subsp. virens].

[[Category:Annonaceae]]
[[Category:Uvaria]]