Common Name:

General Information

Erythrophleum africanum is a small tree with a spreading, fairly dense crown; it can grow up to 15 metres tall; The straight, cylindrical bole can be unbranched for 10 metres and up to 120cm in diameter[, ].
Although poisonous, the plant is often harvested from the wild for local medicinal use. It is also utilised for its useful timber and a gum.

Known Hazards

The bark has been used as an ordeal poison in Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe[].

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - widespread, avoiding the wetter areas, from Senegal to Sudan, south to Angola, Namibia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Habitat

Common in deciduous woodland, it is absent from riparian woodlands and the dry savannah of the Sahel. It occurs at elevations from 600 - 1,400 metres[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	15.00 m
Pollinators	Bees
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Plants grow in the wild in sandy soils and fine gravels[].
The plant is sometimes coppiced or pollarded, though coppicing can give poor results[].
The plant is able to survive bush fires[].
This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

An infusion of the bark is drunk to treat stomach-ache or dysmenorrhoea[].
The bark is used to make a mouth wash for relieving toothache[]. Steeped in water, the bark is applied externally and internally to cure cardiac diseases and epilepsy[]. The powdered root bark, mixed with urine is applied to the skin to treat leprosy[]. A paste of root bark is applied to the skin to cure scabies[].

A hot water extract from the pounded roots is drunk to induce vomiting in case of poisoning and as a cure for insanity[].

Inhaling the smoke of burning leaves is said to relieve pain[].

The complex alkaloids found in the plant are esters of tricyclic diterpene acids[]. In addition, compounds have been found in which the amine link is replaced by an amide link, but it is not clear whether these are natural compounds or artefacts. The bark of Erythrophleum africanum contains erythrophlamine, norcassamidine, norerythrophlamide and norerythrostachamide. The alkaloid content of the bark ranges from 0.04% to 0.6%. The alkaloids have similar cardiotonic, anaesthetic and diuretic properties as those from other Erythrophleum spp[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The plant is established from cuttings to make living fences[].

Other Uses

The gum from the bark is used to make baskets water proof and to fix arrow heads and hoe and axe handles[].

The wood is red-brown, close-grained, heavy, hard and very durable and is resistant to termites, powder-post beetles and marine borers. The timber of this, and several other Erythrophleum, species is marketed under the trade name ‘missanda’. It is used for furniture, heavy and light construction, posts, poles and tool handles[, ].
The wood is used as firewood and to make a good-quality charcoal that is useful in iron working[].

Propagation

Seed -
Cuttings.

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