Common Name:

General Information

Sclerocroton cornutus is a shrub or a tree; it can grow from 1.5 - 12 metres tall, with reports of some trees occasionally reaching 20 metres. The bole can be 8 - 30cm in diameter[, ].
The plant is harvested from the wild, mainly for local use as a medicine.

Known Hazards

The root bark is used medicinally, though it contains toxic tetracyclic triterpenic cucurbitacins[].

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Cote D'Ivoire, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique.

Habitat

Dense rainforests and gallery forest edges; more open secondary formations; wooded savannah; on Kalahari sand in thickets in open woodland; especially on sandy soils, but also on rocky hill slopes[, ].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Shrub
Height	3.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Prefers a well-drained soil[].
The plant coppices well[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

A bark decoction is drunk to treat hernia[].
A bark decoction is used as a mouthwash to treat toothache, scurvy and stomatitis. It is externally applied to sore feet, skin diseases and drunk as a purgative and anthelminthic[].
The root bark, crushed in water, is taken to facilitate childbirth, as it contracts the uterine muscles[].

A leaf decoction is taken to treat female sterility, cough and river blindness[].
Crushed leaves are applied to insect bites and snakebites[]. Leaf sap is used as eye drops to treat filariasis[].

Extracts from the root bark contain toxic tetracyclic triterpenic cucurbitacins[].

Agroforestry Uses:

This species is considered interesting for use in reforestation purposes in DR Congo[].

Other Uses

The wood is made into charcoal[].

Propagation

Seed -

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