Common Name:

General Information

Chrysophyllum perpulchrum is a tree growing up to 40 metres tall. The straight, cylindrical bole is slightly fluted to buttressed at the base, it is up to 100cm in diameter[].
The edible fruit is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use. The tree also has local medicinal uses, yields a latex and gives a wood that is traded internationally in small quantities[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Congo, Uganda, Tanzania.

Habitat

Semi-deciduous forest, most abundantly in dry forest types, particularly on slopes[]. In East Africa it is found in rainforests at elevations of 800 - 1,200 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	35.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Whilst older trees succeed in a sunny position, seedlings need shade for their proper development[].
Trees in a 12-year-old experimental plot in Ghana were 3 - 6 metres tall[].
Trees can produce fruits in abundance when the bole is 60cm or more in diameter, but individual trees with bole diameters of just 20cm may already start fruiting[].
Regeneration is not abundant in dry forest which is regularly burned, and seedlings are more common in less disturbed forest[].

Edible Uses

Fruit[]. The reddish-brown fruit is a globose berry 2 - 4cm long containing up to 5 fairly large seeds[].

Medicinal

A bark decoction is aid to be anodyne, aphrodisiac, galactagogue and tonic[]. It is used in the treatment of jaundice, asthma and other respiratory complaints, and also madness[].
The alkaloid cardiochrysine has been recorded for the bark; this compound showed depressant activity in the thalamus and hypothalamus, and hypotensive and cardiotonic activity[].

Other Uses

A latex obtained from the bark is used as a rubber substitute[].

The heartwood is yellowish or pinkish white to brownish yellow and indistinctly demarcated from the sapwood. The grain is usually straight, texture fine and even. The wood is lustrous, fairly heavy, moderately shock-resistant, fairly easy to saw, works well with hand and machine tools, and can be planed to a smooth finish. Pre-boring is necessary before nailing, and the wood holds nails and screws well. The gluing and steam bending properties are good, as are the slicing properties[]. The wood is not durable and is liable to attacks by insects. The sapwood is susceptible to Lyctus borers[]. In Sierra Leone the wood is considered too gummy to be useful[]. The wood is suitable for construction, flooring, furniture, cabinet work, joinery, toys and novelties, musical instruments, turnery, boxes and crates, vats, carvings, veneer and plywood. In Tanzania the wood is also used for grain mortars and beehives[].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe, when it can germinate in 12 - 30 days[].

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