Leafing, Flowering and Fruiting of Sterculia setigera in Metema, North Western Ethiopia

Episodic in leaf, flower and fruit patterns of Sterculia setigera were examined in Metema woreda of north Gondar zone of the Amhara region, Northwest Ethiopia. Monitoring was conducted for the period of 24months starting from September, 2011 to September, 2013. For the purpose, we selected 16 individual trees (Dbh ??10 cm) of S. setigera trees at 100 m apart. The trees were measured for dbh, marked and mapped using a GPS and monitoring was conducted in every week. The results of monitoring revealed that pattern of leafing and leaf loss, flowering and fruiting are unimodal in lined with the nature of the rainfall pattern of the study area. Leafing was started at the end of dry season when the rain season begins (Mid May) and the trees were in full leaf (Peak leaf flushing) in June and continued peak in leafing during July. Shedding of leaves starts on October but was higher (peak) in December coinciding with the beginning of dry season. Uniformity was observed in blooming among trees and flowering was concentrated in April and ends at the beginning of mid-May. Early fruiting was observed during October. However, mass fruiting was observed during November and ends in in late December up to early January. Therefore, we concluded that seed harvesting of S. setigera is better to conduct in mid-November to beginning of December in the study area.