Description

A tree to 20 m high with a short crooked and fluted bole, of deciduous fringing and secondary forests of the guinean zone, in damp sites and often on stream-banks, occurring throughout the Region, and extending to NE and E Africa.The tree’s preference for proximity to water is reflected in the Sierra Leone Mandinka name kσdolσka, kσ meaning water. The tree is suspected of having a narcotic effect on those who sit or sleep under it: hence the Ghanaian names meaning ‘close your eyes’ (10).The wood is soft to moderately hard and greyish or greenish (6), liable to warp (1), perishable and subject to borer-attack (7, 9). The wood is sometimes used in Liberia for poles and planks (6).The bark contains a little reddish resin (1), which is used in Liberia to treat jaundice and other diseases affecting the eyes (6). The bark is also used in Ivory Coast for its purgative and diuretic properties in the treatment of jaundice (4, 13) and of cough (4). A bark-decoction is used in Gabon for toothache and for diuretic effect in treating urethral discharge (15, 16a). It is also held to be good for ulcers on the soles of the feet when compounded with the heartwood of Pterocarpus soyauxii (Leguminosae: Papilionoiideae), the feet having been previously washed in the sap of Aframomum giganteum (Oliv. & Hanb.) K. Schum. (Zingiberaceae), the false maleguetta of the central African region (16a). In Congo the powdered bark is eaten for cough, febrile lumbago, pains in the ribs and asthenia; a bark-decoction is taken for stomach complaints, jaundice conditions and gonococcal complications, and the bark is put into vapour baths and the lees used in frictions for persistent rheumatic pain (2). The plant (? bark) is used in Casamance as a wash for scrophulous infants (11, 12). In Gabon the plant is considered an aphrodisiac (16a), and in Congo sap from a piece of bark cooked in a leaf is given to a girl suffering infatuation because she is under sorcery to make her vomit up the fetish (2).Tannin is recorded in the bark and leaves (3, 4).The fruits, nearly 2.5 cm long, red or bluish black when ripe, are resinous. The juice stains the fingers. They are eaten in various parts of Africa. Birds eat them and are responsible for dispersal (14). In Gabon they are used as fish-bait (16b). The seeds are used as beads in Ghana (5, 10). They are eaten in Casamance (1).