Common Name:

General Information

Desplatsia subericarpa is a shrub or a small tree growing up to 10 metres tall. The bole is around 4 - 10cm in diameter[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and source of dyes, fibre and insect repellent.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - wetter regions from Sierra Leone to Cameroon and DR Congo, south to northern Angola.

Habitat

Understorey of dense, evergreen, often secondary forest, and along rivers, damp sites; at elevations up to 600 metres[, ].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	6.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

Leaves - cooked and eaten as a vegetable[]. Other sources mention that the leaves have been used for poisoning[].

Fruit[, ]. Said to be cooked and eaten as a vegetable[]. The yellow fruit is an oblong-ellipsoid drupe 6 - 10cm long and 5 - 7.5cm wide.It contains a gum changing from yellow through orange and red to black[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

The fibrous bark is used for making rope[].

The ripe fruit is boiled to obtain a black dye, which is derived from an orange-red gum present in the fruit. The dye is used for cloth and produces an indelible stain like printer's ink[].

The fruit is rubbed on the body to prevent animals from biting[].

Propagation

Seed -

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