Common Name:

General Information

Beilschmiedia mannii is an evergreen shrub or small tree, occasionally becoming a fairly large tree up to 35 metres tall in areas such as Ghana and Liberia[]. The bole can be straight and cylindrical or slightly angular and sinuous with heavy root swellings or narrow buttresses that can be up to 1 metre high. The bole can be branchless for up to 20 metres with a diameter up to 100cm[].
The tree is mainly harvested from the wild, though it has occasionally been cultivated. It provides a range of foods and medicine for the local population and a valuable timber that is being exported in small quantities. The seeds are sold for food in local markets[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Guinea to DR Congo.

Habitat

Usually found in evergreen primary and secondary forest. Outside evergreen forest, it is found mainly in riverine and swamp forest[]. Usually an understorey tree in lowland rain-forest, sometimes in marshy situations, often on river-banks[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	15.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the lowland, moister tropics.
Grows best in the dappled shade of woodland[].

Edible Uses

Seed - raw or cooked[]. They can be roasted, ground into a powder and added as a condiment and enrichment to soups[, ]. They can also be cooked with rice or used as a vegetable[].
The dried seeds contain 14.6% water; 5.9% protein; 0.5% fat; 75.8% carbohydrate; 220mg Calcium and 100mg Phosphorus[]. 100g of the dried seed provides 1395kJ (333kcal) energy and 1.6g fibre[].

An edible oil is obtained from the seed[]. This report is possibly wrong since it also says earlier that the seed only contains 0.5% fat[].

Flowers - fragrant, they are used to flavour rice and other foods[, ].

The pounded bark is eaten with rice as an appetizer[].

The fragrant leaves are pounded in water, and after pressing through muslin the liquid is drunk[].

The fruit is eaten and is an ingredient of sauces[].

Medicinal

The pounded fruits are used to treat coughs, bronchitis, intercostal pain, rheumatism and dysentery[, ].

A decoction of the bark and leaves is used as a lotion to treat headache[].
The bark contains traces of alkaloids, the leaves traces of flavones[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The tree is sometimes planted to provide shade for coffee plantations[].

Other Uses

The heartwood is reddish-yellow to red, with a persistent spicy smell, and is distinctly demarcated from the pale yellow or cream-coloured, nearly odourless sapwood[]. The grain is straight; texture moderately fine. The wood is resistant to fungal and insect attack and durable even in contact with the soil or with fresh water. It is easy to work with all tools and finishes well; glues well[]. An attractive wood, it can be used as a substitute for mahogany (Swietenia spp.) and bosse (Guarea spp.)[]. It is used for construction, planks, door frames, interior and exterior joinery, furniture, cabinet work, stairs, flooring, vehicle frames, canoes, carpentry, plywood, and other purposes requiring an attractive appearance[].

Propagation

Seed - A germination rate of about 80% can be expected within 21 - 30 days[].

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