Common Name:

General Information

Chlamydocola chlamydantha is a tree growing up to 20 metres tall. The straight bole can be up to 30cm in diameter[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of wood.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Central African Republic, Gabon and DR Congo.

Habitat

Swamp forests; understorey of deciduous and evergreen forest, including secondary forest; often in relatively humid locations such as along watercourses at elevations up to 900 metres[, ].

Properties

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

Cultivation Details

The flowers are produced on the trunk and other stems[, ].
The tree responds well to coppicing[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw[]. The pulp has a sour-sweet flavour[]. The orange or red fruit consists of 9 - 12 erect follicles arranged in a whorl around a disk-shaped receptacle; the follicles are oblong-ellipsoid, curved, 6 - 15cm long by 3 - 6cm wide, with a short and recurved beak, filled with a viscous liquid[].

The seed cotyledons are chewed as an inferior substitute of those of the true kola (mainly Cola acuminata and Cola nitida[].

Mucilage prepared from young branches or fruits is used in sauces[].

Medicinal

Decoctions of the bark are taken to calm intestinal pain, and against cough[].

The colourless liquid from the fruit cavity is used to treat eye inflammation[].

Agroforestry Uses:

Chlamydocola chlamydantha is a host tree of Cacao Swollen Shoot Virus (CSSV) causing swollen shoot disease in cocoa, a disease which has had a devastating effect on cocoa production in Ghana and neighbouring countries. Control of this disease in cocoa includes elimination of Chlamydocola chlamydantha from the vicinity[].

Other Uses

The liquid from the fruit cavity has been shown to inhibit seed germination in all species tested[].

The heartwood is yellowish brown; the sapwood greyish. The texture is coarse. The wood is rather hard and heavy. The wood is used for pestles, house construction[].
The wood is used for fuel[].

Propagation

Seed -

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