Common Name:

General Information

Macaranga spinosa is a spiny, scrambling shrub or a tree; it usually grows 5 - 10 metres tall but larger trees up to 20 metres are also recorded. The bole straight has spines that can be simple or forked, 10 - 20cm long and directed downward; the twigs are also often spiny. The bole is fluted or stilt-rooted at the base[, , ].
The tree is often harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of wood and waterproofing material. It is used as a pioneer species in reforestation projects and is planted to provide shade in home gardens[, ].
Macaranga spinosa has a very wide distribution, large population, is not currently experiencing any major threats and no significant future threats have been identified.The plant is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2019)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Guinea to Nigeria, Central African Republic and Uganda, south to Angola, DR Congo and Tanzania.

Habitat

Edges of primary forest and in secondary forest, often on soils with a high groundwater table, at elevations from sea-level up to 1,200 metres[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Least Concern
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	10.00 m
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

None known

Medicinal

The plant is used in the treatment of dysentery and cough[, ].

The leaf sap or bark sap, in combination with other plants, is drunk, rubbed in or used in a vapour bath to treat lung complaints (including bronchitis, cough and asthma), headache, feverish stiffness, rheumatism, liver complaints and stomach-ache[, ]. Combined with maleguetta pepper, it is deemed to be aphrodisiac[].

A bark decoction is gargled or used as a mouth wash to treat toothache, stomatitis and aphthae[].

A maceration of the crushed leaves is taken by women to treat amenorrhoea[].

The root ash is inhaled to treat haemorrhoids[].

In a preliminary analysis, saponins, steroids, tannins and terpenes have been isolated from the stem bark[, ].

Agroforestry Uses:

In the forest-savanna transition zone in littoral Congo, it is one of the pioneer species involved in forest expansion[].

Other Uses

Potters sprinkle an extract from the crushed stem bark on pots that come from the fire and are still red hot, to make them waterproof[]. A water extract of the stem bark contains procyanidins, of which the pyrolysis products have waterproofing properties[].

The wood is used for construction of house posts, stools and spoons[, ].
The wood is used for fuel and to make charcoal[, ].

Propagation

Seed -

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