Common Name:

General Information

Sacoglottis gabonensis is a large evergreen tree with an immense, heavy-branched crown that can grow 40 metres or more tall. The bole can be free of branches for up to 20 metres, but more often branches from low down. It is often crooked, knotty and deeply fluted; up to 180cm in diameter with buttresses up to 2.5 metres high[].
The tree is exploited from the wild for its timber, which is used locally and also exported[]. The bark is a popular medicine and is sold in local markets[]. The tree also provides food for local use. The bark, when slashed, exudes a sticky brownish sap with sickly sweet scent[].

Known Hazards

The bark is used as a fish poison[].

Botanical References

Range

Western tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to the Congo.

Habitat

Usually found near the coast in rain-forest, fresh-water swamp forest; riversides and edges of lagoons at elevations up to 600 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	40.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

The tree can be coppiced[].
The plant may have evolved from seeds, which arrived on the West African coast from South America, being one of the most illustrative cases of dispersal by water from South America to Africa. The resin-filled chambers of the stone make it float in water and seeds remain viable for up to 4 years[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw[]. A sweet flavour, it tastes like banana bread[]. It is mainly eaten by children[]. The fruits are the source of a fermented drink called 'stouton'[]. The fruit is a green to yellow, ellipsoid to globose drupe 30 - 40mm long and 25 - 35mm wide[].

Seed[]. Grilled[].

The seeds contain 54% of a fatty oil[].

A bark decoction is used as a spice in food to induce heat in nursing and pregnant mothers[].
The peeled bark is added to palm wine[]. It is claimed to prolong the shelf life of the wine, add potency, reduce foaming and impart a bitter taste[]. It is also reported to have aphrodisiac properties[]. The alcohol content of palm wine from Raphia hookeri, when the stem bark was added, became almost twice as high as that of untreated palm wine. It was found that the ethanol tolerance and osmo-tolerance of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae were enhanced by the bark extract, whereas flocculation and invertase activity were reduced[].

Medicinal

The stembark is a popular and much used medicine in west Africa, An infusion is used as an emetic and in the treatment of fevers, diarrhoea, gonorrhoea and abdominal pain - it is also sometimes used to treat hypertension and diabetes[]. A bark decoction is used to treat stomach-ache[]. It is used as a spice in food to induce heat in nursing and pregnant mothers[].
A decoction of the crushed bark, combined with the leaves of Dioscorea minutiflora, are used as a rectal enema to treat acute abdominal pain[].
Applied externally, a decoction of the stem bark is used to cure difficult cases of dermatitis[]. A stem bark decoction, combined with other plants, is added to bath water to treat ovarian troubles, vaginal infections and children with fevers[].

The diluted stem sap is used in hipbaths to promote muscle tone in women after childbirth[].

Bergenin, an isocoumarin, has been identified as the main active compound of the stem bark[]. The bark also contains appreciable amounts of tannins, with a trace of saponins. They have also revealed the presence of 2 cis/trans isomers of lignans (calopiptine and galgravine) which may play a role in cancer prevention[].
The stem bark extract is reported to have hepatoprotective properties[].
A stem bark extract added to drinking water of rats increased prothrombin and thrombin levels of blood plasma[].

Other Uses

Bergenin, a compound found in the bark, protects stored vegetable oils against peroxidative deterioration over a period of time[].

The heartwood is reddish brown to purplish red; it is rather indistinctly demarcated from the narrow band of yellowish sapwood. The grain is straight to wavy; texture fine and even. The wood is heavy; hard; elastic; and durable, being resistant to termites, fungal and insect attacks. It seasons slowly, with a high risk of checking and distortion; once dry it is moderately stable in service. Considering its high density and hardness, the wood is not difficult to saw and work, but it has a severe blunting effect on saw teeth and cutting edges; stellite-tipped saw teeth and tungsten-carbide cutting edges are needed; it is difficult to nail and screw without pre-boring, but the holding power is good; gluing can be difficult because of the density of the wood; finishing is satisfactory, but the wood is not suited for veneer and plywood production. The wood is widely, though mainly locally, used for hydraulic works, house and bridge construction, carpentry, heavy flooring, poles, ship building, vehicle bodies, railway sleepers and mine props. It is suitable for interior trim, furniture, cabinet work, toys, novelties, turnery and pattern making[, ].
The wood is a good fuel and produces a valuable charcoal[].

Propagation

Seeds take 2 - 4 months to germinate. The germination rate is quite low[].

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