Common Name:

General Information

Maprounea membranacea is a tree that can grow from 5 - 25 metres tall. The bole can be unbranched fro up to 11 metres and up to 30cm, occasionally to 50cm, in diameter[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of wood.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo.

Habitat

Periodically inundated forest, wet forest and secondary forest on dry soil, at low elevations[].

Properties

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

Cultivation Details

The species is usually monoecious, but dioecious forms are also known, in which case, both male and female forms would need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

Pieces of root bark or stem bark, laced with honey or sugar, are used as a violent purgative to treat constipation, ascites and generalised oedema, intestinal worms, female sterility and an irregular menstrual cycle[]. A cold water maceration of bark scrapings is given to constipated babies[].
An ointment of the powdered bark in palm oil is applied topically to treat leprosy, smallpox, scabies and other skin infections[].

A root decoction is drunk to treat syphilis[].

The dried powdered leaves are used to cicatrise wounds, especially circumcision wounds[]. A leaf decoction is used to wash infected eyes[].
The rolled-up leaves or leaf pulp may be placed as a vaginal suppository or douche to treat vaginitis and problems of the uterus[].

The stem bark contains small amounts of pentacyclic triterpenes and derivatives, which do not seem to have biological activity[].
The stem bark also contains cucurbitacin A and derivatives, diterpenes, phorbol esters of the daphnane type, of which several exhibited potent inhibitory activity against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase[].

Other Uses

The bruised young stems are laid in houses to repel cockroaches[].

The wood is used to make mortars[].

Propagation

Seed -

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