Common Name:

General Information

Meiocarpidium lepidotum is a shrub or a tree usually growing up to 8 metres tall with specimens up to 20 metres reported. The bole can be up to 30cm in diameter[, ].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of wood.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo.

Habitat

Understorey of lowland evergreen and semi-deciduous forest, also in secondary forest. It is locally dominant in the shrub layer[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	8.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

The flowers are lemon-scented[].
Although the fruits are not palatable to humans, and have an unpleasant smell, they are eaten by gorillas and chimpanzees, which may serve as seed dispersers[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

A maceration of the bark in cold water has been administered to treat fever[]. Bark decoctions are used as purgative and in a bath to treat abdominal pain and worm infections in babies[].

Some alkaloids, methoxyatherosperminine and N-oxy-methoxyatherosperminine, have been isolated from the bark, as well as the triterpene polycarpol and the lignan meiocarpin[].

Other Uses

The heartwood is greenish brown with darker streaks; it is distinctly demarcated from the whitish to yellowish, soft and flexible sapwood. The wood is used for implements such as spoons, paddles and oars[].

Propagation

Seed -

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