Common Name:

General Information

Barteria fistulosa is a tree growing up to 13 metres tall. It has horizontal branches that are hollow over their full length and usually house aggressive, stinging ants. The tree is deeply taprooted[].
A popular medicine within the plants native range, the tree is harvested from the wild for local use.

Known Hazards

The branches become hollow and cylindrical, and are inhabited by large, aggressive, stinging ants[, ]

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Nigeria to Gabon and DR Congo.

Habitat

Forest openings and secondary forest[]. Lowland rainforest and gallery forest, also in secondary forest, often in clearings or along rivers[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	10.00 m
Pollinators	Bees
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Seedlings occur in heavy shade and produce their first hollow, horizontal branches when 100 - 150cm tall; these are colonized by aggressive, stinging ants[].
In Nigeria the tree begins to fruit when more than 8 metres tall (more than 10 years old)[].
The growth rate is 50 - 100cm per year, and the tree dies after 15 - 30 reproductive seasons, at which time the crown is high enough to be exposed to broken sunlight[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The stem bark, roots and leaves are widely used in baths and embrocations to treat pain in conditions such as fevers, headaches, intestinal and lumbar pains, and rheumatism[].
The plant (part not specified) is used in many formulations to treat epilepsy and snakebites[].

A decoction of the bark is taken to treat venereal diseases and madness[]. A mixture of dried ground twig bark, rock salt and maize meal is eaten as a purgative[].
A decoction of the bark is gargled to treat toothache; is used as nose drops to treat headache; and as a wash to treat smallpox and ulcerous sores[].
The bark sap is used to treat wounds[].

Young shoots are eaten as an aphrodisiac[].

The powdered root is widely taken as an invigorator for men[].

The stem bark contains large amounts of flavones, while the leaves and roots contain traces[].
The bark contains a trace of saponins[].
The bark and root contain tannins[].
The leaves, bark and root contain traces of hydrocyanic acid[].
The cyanogenic glycoside barterioside has been isolated from the root bark[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -

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