Common Name:

General Information

Dacryodes normandii is an evergreen tree that can grow up to 37 metres tall. The straight, cylindrical bole is up to 90cm in diameter and very slightly buttressed at the base[, ].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use of its fruit and wood, the wood is also traded commercially.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Gabon.

Habitat

Evergreen forests at elevations from 50 - 450 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	30.00 m
Pollinators	Insects
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required.

Edible Uses

Fruit - cooked[]. The fruit is an obovoid drupe about 35mm long[]. I'm not sure that the report of the fruit being cooked is fully accurate, since boiling is said to harden the flesh. Instead, it is probably treated as below[].
The flesh of the fruits in this genus usually adheres very strongly to the seed. When placed in hot (but not boiling) water at around 60 - 85°c the fruit softens and swells and all the flesh then slides easily off the seed[, ].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

A fragrant resin exudes from the cut inner bark[]. No uses are recorded[].

The heartwood is pink-buff with an occasional grey tinge; it is not distinctly demarcated from the 2 - 4cm wide band of sapwood. The grain can be straight, but is often interlocked; the texture medium to coarse. The wood is medium-weight, soft to moderately hard; moderately durable, it is very resitant to termites, moderately resistant to fungi but susceptible to dry wood borers. It seasons normally, with only a slight risk of checking or distortion; when dry it is moderately stable in service, It is moderately easy to saw when green; works well with hand and machine tools, but causes blunting due to the presence of silica - stellite-tipped and tungsten carbide tools are recommended; it has good nailing and screwing properties, and it glues, sands, paints and varnishes well. Peeling characteristics are satisfactory. The wood is suitable for light construction, flooring, interior trim, joinery, ship and boat building, vehicle bodies, furniture, cabinet work, toys, novelties, turnery, poles, piles, veneer and plywood. It can also be used for paper making[, ].

Propagation

Seed -

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