Description

A shrub or tree to 15 m high, of the relic, fringing, transition and savanna forests, throughout the Region, and extending southward to Angola.The tree carries large yellow flowers in long terminal racemes and is quite decorative when in flower. It is grown as an ornamental in Guinea-Bissau (6). The timber is pale brown, hard and good for carpentry. It resembles that of Newbouldia laevis, and is used in Gabon (13). In S Nigeria it is made into knife-handles (3).The bark is pulped up and used in Casamance (Senegal) as a poultice in the armpit for localized pain. (7, 8). In Ivory Coast the plant is held to be particularly effective in treating skin-afflictions, sores and scabies: leaves and bark are pulped up with citron-juice to a soft paste; the liquid is squeezed out and used as an embrocation, while the lees may be used in vigorous rubbing over the affected parts, or applied as a wet dressing under a bandage to sores (9, 10). Plant preparations [methods not stated] are also administered as rejuvant and diuretic medicines: for oedema of the legs and elephantiasis of the scrotum, on chancres and for rheumatic pain and in treatment of the respiratory tract and in bouts of swamp-fever (2). In Nigeria a decoction of bark and leaves is given as a mild laxative and in cases of fever; a leaf-decoction and chewed leaves are used for general pains, head, back, etc. (1). In Sierra Leone the bark is used in tanning (5).The flower is melliferous (6). The buds are used in play by children like those of Spathodea campanulata (Bignoniaceae) (4). The juice from the buds is used in S Nigeria for painful eyes (11).The tree probably has superstitious attributes in S Nigeria (4). The Igbo at Ezi are recorded as using the wood for carving images (12).

Description

A shrub or tree to 15 m high, of the relic, fringing, transition and savanna forests, throughout the Region, and extending southward to Angola.The tree carries large yellow flowers in long terminal racemes and is quite decorative when in flower. It is grown as an ornamental in Guinea-Bissau (6). The timber is pale brown, hard and good for carpentry. It resembles that of Newbouldia laevis, and is used in Gabon (13). In S Nigeria it is made into knife-handles (3).The bark is pulped up and used in Casamance (Senegal) as a poultice in the armpit for localized pain. (7, 8). In Ivory Coast the plant is held to be particularly effective in treating skin-afflictions, sores and scabies: leaves and bark are pulped up with citron-juice to a soft paste; the liquid is squeezed out and used as an embrocation, while the lees may be used in vigorous rubbing over the affected parts, or applied as a wet dressing under a bandage to sores (9, 10). Plant preparations [methods not stated] are also administered as rejuvant and diuretic medicines: for oedema of the legs and elephantiasis of the scrotum, on chancres and for rheumatic pain and in treatment of the respiratory tract and in bouts of swamp-fever (2). In Nigeria a decoction of bark and leaves is given as a mild laxative and in cases of fever; a leaf-decoction and chewed leaves are used for general pains, head, back, etc. (1). In Sierra Leone the bark is used in tanning (5).The flower is melliferous (6). The buds are used in play by children like those of Spathodea campanulata (Bignoniaceae) (4). The juice from the buds is used in S Nigeria for painful eyes (11).The tree probably has superstitious attributes in S Nigeria (4). The Igbo at Ezi are recorded as using the wood for carving images (12).