Description

A shrub or tree to 23 m tall, bole to 60 cm in girth sometimes buttressed, or with several trunks, in wet locations of the closed-forest and in forest clearings, from Sierra Leone to W Cameroons, and extending to Zaïre.The wood is yellowish-white, fine-grained, moderately hard, easy to work and finishes smoothly. It is not resistant to fungal decay. It is occasionally used in Liberia to make rice mortars, and is suitable for general carpentry, plywood, boxboards and miscellaneous common uses where decay and fungal stain is not important (3).The bark-sap is lactiferous and produces an inferior rubber that remains sticky. It has been used as an adulterant for better rubbers. The sap is extremely caustic. One drip in the eye may cause blindness, and it is an ingredient in the Daola region of Ivory Coast of an arrow-poison. The sap is used in Ivory Coast as a disinfectant and haemostatic and on sores and wounds and on leprous areas (6). One or two drops are instilled into the nose in Ivory Coast to soothe headache, acting as a counter-irritant on the nasal mucosae. It is used also as a seditive in insanity (2). In Liberia the sap is applied to areas of ringworm after scarification (3). In Congo it is commonly applied as a healing dressing to sores, abscesses, furuncles and to anthrax pustules, and to dermal infections such as filaria, ringworm and other fungal troubles, and is taken internally as an anthelmintic (1). Like many lactiferous plants it is considered in Congo to be galactogenic (1).A bark-decoction is taken in Congo for constipation, ovarian troubles, haematuria, and blennorrhoea (1) and is given as an enema in Ivory Coast for kidney-troubles, and rheumatism and stubborn constipation (2).A leaf-decoction is considered in Ivory Coast to be strengthening and defatiguant and is applied as a friction; it is massaged onto rachitic children, and onto adults to combat fatigue (6). Large leaves are placed in the roof-thatch of houses in Gabon in the belief that their bitter taste keeps away cockroaches (8, 9).A considerable number of alkaloids has been reported in the root, bark, seeds, etc. (2, 5, 6, 7, 10).The flowers are showy, highly scented and ornamental.

Description

A shrub or tree to 23 m tall, bole to 60 cm in girth sometimes buttressed, or with several trunks, in wet locations of the closed-forest and in forest clearings, from Sierra Leone to W Cameroons, and extending to Zaïre.The wood is yellowish-white, fine-grained, moderately hard, easy to work and finishes smoothly. It is not resistant to fungal decay. It is occasionally used in Liberia to make rice mortars, and is suitable for general carpentry, plywood, boxboards and miscellaneous common uses where decay and fungal stain is not important (3).The bark-sap is lactiferous and produces an inferior rubber that remains sticky. It has been used as an adulterant for better rubbers. The sap is extremely caustic. One drip in the eye may cause blindness, and it is an ingredient in the Daola region of Ivory Coast of an arrow-poison. The sap is used in Ivory Coast as a disinfectant and haemostatic and on sores and wounds and on leprous areas (6). One or two drops are instilled into the nose in Ivory Coast to soothe headache, acting as a counter-irritant on the nasal mucosae. It is used also as a seditive in insanity (2). In Liberia the sap is applied to areas of ringworm after scarification (3). In Congo it is commonly applied as a healing dressing to sores, abscesses, furuncles and to anthrax pustules, and to dermal infections such as filaria, ringworm and other fungal troubles, and is taken internally as an anthelmintic (1). Like many lactiferous plants it is considered in Congo to be galactogenic (1).A bark-decoction is taken in Congo for constipation, ovarian troubles, haematuria, and blennorrhoea (1) and is given as an enema in Ivory Coast for kidney-troubles, and rheumatism and stubborn constipation (2).A leaf-decoction is considered in Ivory Coast to be strengthening and defatiguant and is applied as a friction; it is massaged onto rachitic children, and onto adults to combat fatigue (6). Large leaves are placed in the roof-thatch of houses in Gabon in the belief that their bitter taste keeps away cockroaches (8, 9).A considerable number of alkaloids has been reported in the root, bark, seeds, etc. (2, 5, 6, 7, 10).The flowers are showy, highly scented and ornamental.