Tree of the month: Masquerade Tree

New month!!!!

New tree!

Today I’ll start of with the introduction of one of our more popular trees in Lagos!!!

The Masquerade Tree

Quick facts: 

Botanical Name: Polyalthia Longifolia

Common Name: The Masquerade Tree

Genus: Polyalthia

Family: Annonaceae

This tree is native to India and as a country in the tropics, Polyalthia Longifolia also thrives well in Nigeria. Also commonly known as the Indian mast tree, False Ashoka (because of its close resemblance to the Asoka tree), the Longifolia is an evergreen, tall and slender tree that grows up to at least 10-12m high but has a very short tree cover.

Source

They are mostly used for streetscaping and in some cases medicinal purposes etc, it is also planted as an effective wind breaker used to alleviate noise pollution.

 

Love and evergreen foliage

‘Loba