Common Name:

General Information

Chrysophyllum boivinianum is an evergreen tree growing up to 25 metres tall. The straight bole is often fluted and slightly buttressed at the base, it can be unbranched for up to 18 metres and is up to 60cm in diameter[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and source of timber.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Africa - Madagascar.

Habitat

Humid evergreen forest at elevations from sea-level up to 1,750 metres[]. Particularly characteristic of mid-elevation forests, it also occurs in littoral and sub-littoral forests, and in forest remnants on high plateaux[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	20.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the wet tropics, where it is found at elevations from sea level to 1,750 metres.
Found in the wild mainly on lateritic soils, though it also grows well on sandy soils[].

Edible Uses

Fruit[]. The fruit is a globose berry up to 45mm in diameter, containing up to 5 fairly large seeds[].

Medicinal

Crushed leaves are applied as a dressing to treat scorpion stings[].

The plant forms part of plant mixtures that are used to treat poisoning and to relieve symptoms of malaria, tiredness and muscular pains[].

Other Uses

The inner bark exudes a sticky white latex[]. No uses are mentioned for it[].

The heartwood is cream-coloured to brownish yellow or pinkish brown, sometimes with irregular dark stripes; it is indistinctly demarcated from the 5 - 6cm wide band of sapwood. The grain is straight, occasionally slightly wavy; texture fine to moderately fine and even[]. The wood is medium-weight. It is easy to saw, works well with hand and machine tools, and it can be planed to an excellent finish. It does not easily split when nailed, but it holds nails and screws only moderately well. It has good gluing and painting properties. It turns well, and it has good steam bending properties. The wood is only moderately durable; it is liable to attacks by fungi and insects. The heartwood is resistant to treatment with preservatives, the sapwood moderately resistant[]. The wood is commonly used for interior joinery and carpentry, furniture, moulding, panelling, light flooring and ladders. It is also used in shipbuilding because of its elasticity[].

Propagation

Seed -

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