Common Name: Ntom

General Information

Duguetia staudtii is a tree growing around 15 - 50 metres tall with a straight, cylndrical trunk around 20 - 70cm in diameter[, ].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of materials.
Duguetia staudtii has a very wide geographic distribution from West to Central Africa.. Although it may be facing habitat loss locally, its overall extent of occurrence is large, and it is found in 17 protected areas. The plant is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2019)[].

Known Hazards

The bark is used as an ingredient in arrow poisons[, ].

Botanical References

Range

Western and central tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Central African Republic, south to Gabon, Congo and DR Congo

Habitat

Primary and secondary, non-inundated, evergreen forest; at elevations from 100 - 900 metres[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Least Concern
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	25.00 m
Pollinators	Insects
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Plants can produce fruit all year round[].
The yellow bark is aromatic[].

Edible Uses

We have no reports on the edibility of this species, though if the fruit has a fleshy pulp then that will be edible[]. The reddish, globose to depressed ovoid fruit is around 25 . 50mm long and 30 - 60mm in diameter, composed of 50 - 100 fertile carpels each 15 - 20mm long and 9 - 15mm in diameter[].

Medicinal

The slash smells strongly of turpentine, the yellow colour quickly turning brown on exposure[].
The bark has a pungent taste when fresh and is put to a number of medicinal uses. A decoction is considered a good treatment for a variety of chest complaints, including bronchitis, and is also used as a cough medicine[]. An aphrodisiac is made from the bark[].
The bark is considered to have analgesic properties and so is good for relieving toothaches[]. The bark is pulped in a mortar with a kola nut Cola spp.) and is eaten as a treatment for gastro-intestinal pains[].
Combined with the leaves of Ficus exasperata, the bark is pounded with water and clay into a paste which is then used topically in friction to treat oedemas[].
The bark also has insecticidal and vermifugal properties. A bark-decoction is used as a wash to kill body-vermin. A decoction of the beaten and boiled bark is considered an excellent vermifuge[].
The bark is used, along with other ingredients, in the treatment of tumours[].

Traces of alkaloids and of an unstable substance have been reported in the leaves and bark, and tannins are present in the bark and roots[].

Other Uses

The bark has insecticidal and vermifugal properties[].

The bark is used in making the walls of traditional buildings[, ].
The bark is used for making hut-walls in W Cameroons, and partitions in Gabon. The Konos of Sierra Leone use it to make doors in farm houses[].

The wood resembles walnut but is yellowish-white to greenish-brown. There is little differentiation between the sapwood and the heartwood. The wood is durable. It is semi-hard and moderately heavy, though some reports say it is soft and light. Because of the tree’s good form the volume of timber is high. It is used for general construction work, planks, house-poles, furniture, carpentry and barrel-staves.[, , ].

Propagation

Seed -

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