Description

A shrub or tree, exceptionally to 20 m high, of the closed-forest and forest outliers in savanna in stream banks from Senegal to S Nigeria.The trunk is cylindrical and erect, but branching low down and with stilt-roots. The timber is yellowish-white without differentiation between sap and heart-wood, light and firm. It is used in Liberia to make domestic articles such as wooden spoons, combs, stools, etc. (3).The leaves are used in N Nigeria for wrapping kola seeds and are given the Hausa name meaning ‘white leaf (4). The young leaves are said to be eaten as a vegetable in Liberia (3), but a fairly high amount of saponside, together with mucilage, is reported in Ivorean material (1). Also in Ivory Coast, the use of the plant in arrow-poison is recorded (6). Though the part of the plant is not specified and the authors express doubt on the validity of this information, the presence of saponosides may be an explanation.Elephants are said to eat the flowers (4). The fruits are 2.5–3.75 cm across composed of a cluster of 7 or so heads united basally. They contain a little flesh which is edible. The kernels are also edible and are sometimes eaten after cooking (4, 5). They are rich in oil. Ivorean material is reported to contain 31·7% oil, 30% sugars and 30·8% proteins, dry weight. The oil contains 74% linoleic acid and 21% oleic acid, and, like M. arboreus, the kernel holds a high number of amino acids with an unusually high amount of sulphur-bearing cystine and three peptidic alkaloids (2).

Description

A shrub or tree, exceptionally to 20 m high, of the closed-forest and forest outliers in savanna in stream banks from Senegal to S Nigeria.The trunk is cylindrical and erect, but branching low down and with stilt-roots. The timber is yellowish-white without differentiation between sap and heart-wood, light and firm. It is used in Liberia to make domestic articles such as wooden spoons, combs, stools, etc. (3).The leaves are used in N Nigeria for wrapping kola seeds and are given the Hausa name meaning ‘white leaf (4). The young leaves are said to be eaten as a vegetable in Liberia (3), but a fairly high amount of saponside, together with mucilage, is reported in Ivorean material (1). Also in Ivory Coast, the use of the plant in arrow-poison is recorded (6). Though the part of the plant is not specified and the authors express doubt on the validity of this information, the presence of saponosides may be an explanation.Elephants are said to eat the flowers (4). The fruits are 2.5–3.75 cm across composed of a cluster of 7 or so heads united basally. They contain a little flesh which is edible. The kernels are also edible and are sometimes eaten after cooking (4, 5). They are rich in oil. Ivorean material is reported to contain 31·7% oil, 30% sugars and 30·8% proteins, dry weight. The oil contains 74% linoleic acid and 21% oleic acid, and, like M. arboreus, the kernel holds a high number of amino acids with an unusually high amount of sulphur-bearing cystine and three peptidic alkaloids (2).