Common Name:

General Information

Maesobotrya floribunda is a bushy shrub, sometimes becoming a tree, with drooping branches; it usually grows 1.5 - 6 metres tall, though tree forms can grow up to 12 metres tall and exceptional specimens to 20 metres have been recorded. The bole can be 3 - 25cm in diameter, usually branching from near the base. The tree produces suckers[, ].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine, food and source of wood.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo, Zambia.

Habitat

Gallery forest, often in open, seasonally inundated localities, sea-level to 1,000 metres[]. Rain-forest, often on steep, rocky slopes; riverine and swamp forests; secondary wooded formations; rocky slopes; at elevations from 330 - 1,520 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	6.00 m
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Found in the wild mainly on sandy loams, enriched with clay or organic material[].
A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

Young leaves - cooked[]. An acid flavour, they are used as a potherb[].

Medicinal

The leaves are rubbed on the skin to treat prickly heat[].

The picrotoxane sesquiterpenoid picrotoximaesin was isolated from a methanol extract of the seeds[].

Other Uses

The wood is used to make house posts and kitchen utensils[].

Propagation

Seed -
Suckers

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