Common Name:

General Information

Antidesma laciniatum is sometimes no more than a shrub 2 - 3 metres tall but can also develop into a tree with a spreading crown; it can grow 7 - 15 metres tall. The bole is crooked, usually branched from near the base, and around 10 - 35cm in diameter[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of wood.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Sudan and Uganda, south to Gabon and DR Congo.

Habitat

Rain forests, moist deciduous forests, secondary forests, edges of forest patches and fallow fields at elevations from 200 - 1,275 metres[, ].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	10.00 m
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

The leaves of var. membranaceum are used for scenting plates on which meat is served[].

The fruits are said to be not edible[]

Medicinal

A decoction of the bark is used either orally or as an enema to treat internal upsets[]. The powdered bark is used as an aphrodisiac, either added to water or with palm wine[].

A leaf decoction is prepared as a bath to prevent miscarriage[, ].

An essential oil obtained from the leaves contains mainly terpenoids (72%) with a relatively high amount of esters (41%). The two major constituents are the esters benzyl benzoate (19%), which is responsible for the sweet balsamic odour of the oil, and geranyl acetate (15%). Other constituents isolated from the essential oil are the terpenoid squalene, used in cosmetics as an oil-free moisturizer, and the biflavonoid amentoflavone, which has shown antiviral and anticancer activity and is a potent antioxidant[].
The essential oil showed significant activity against Plasmodium falciparum in vitro, but no important radical scavenging activity[].

Other Uses

The leaves contain around 1.8% (on a dry weight basis) of an essential oil with a sweet, balsamic aroma[].

The heartwood is yellowish-white; the sapwood a light, creamy-brown. The wood is hard and does not work well. It is used to make tool handles and as poles in traditional house construction[, ]..
The wood is used for fuel and to make charcoal[, ].

Propagation

Seed -

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