Common Name:

General Information

Ocotea usambarensis is a medium to large evergreen tree with a dense, spreading crown; usually growing 15 - 30 metres tall but with occasional specimens to 40 metres[]. It has a stout, straight bole that can be up to 10 metres tall. 2 - 3 metres in diameter, and buttressed at the base[, , ].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local medicinal use. Its timber is highly valued and is sometimes traded internationally - it is planted for timber on a small scale in Kenya and Tanzania[]. It is also occasionally planted as an ornamental shade tree, but its crown is too dense to be useful for agroforestry purposes[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

East tropical Africa - Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Congo.

Habitat

A canopy tree, often an emergent, in submontane and montane evergreen rainforests, and infrequent in evergreen swamp forest[]. Rainforest, where it is often dominant, at elevations of 900 - 2,600 metres, occasionally to 3,000 metres[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	25.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moist tropics, where it is found at elevations from 900 - 3,000 metres[]. It is found in areas where the mean annual rainfall ranges from 1,200 - 2,450mm, often with 2 - 3 dry months[]. It prefers a mean annual temperature in the range of 15 - 20°c, but tolerates 8 - 30°c[].
Grows best in a sunny position[]. Prefers a deep, fertile soil with good drainage[]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6, tolerating 5 - 6.5[].
Records of growth rates are contradictory. Growth rates of up to 2 metres per year have been recorded for young trees, but this seems to be exceptional. In a 75-year-old plantation at 2,450 metres altitude in Kenya, trees were 15 - 29 metres tall, with a bole diameter of 19 - 51cm[]. In Tanzania 49-year-old trees were 15 - 24.5 metres tall, with a mean bole length of 10 metres and mean bole diameter of 40 - 49cm[].
Trees may produce fruits in large amounts, but usually only once in 3 - 4 years, so-called mast years[].
Trees often develop root suckers, though these are often eaten by large animals such as elephants[]. Under natural conditions, the tree regenerates mainly by suckers because undamaged seed is uncommon. After natural breakdown of an old tree, the gap is first filled by fast-growing pioneer species, in the shade of which the Ocotea usambarensis suckers can establish, and after death of the pioneer species they can develop into new trees[].
Regeneration by suckering and coppicing is high after clear felling[]. Trees can be managed by coppicing, to which they respond well at any age[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The bark and the roots are used in traditional medicine[]. Modern research has shown the presence of medically active compounds.
Methanol extracts of the root bark have shown pronounced cytotoxic activity against several human cancer cell lines[].
Bark extracts have shown antifungal activity against Cladosporium cucumerinum[]. This activity was linked to the presence of the lignan (+)-piperitol and an essential oil, in which nerolidol, α-terpineol, α-copaen-11-ol and an unidentified sesquiterpene alcohol were the main active compounds[].

A decoction of the decorticated bark is used for the relief of stomach ache[, ]. A bark decoction is given to treat whooping cough, measles and convulsions in babies[, ].
The inner bark, combined with the inner barks of Morella salicifolia and Brucea antidysenterica, are taken in soup as a treatment for measles, swellings, abscess and whooping cough[].
Applied externally, the pounded bark of the roots, bole and branches is used as a poultice on swellings, boils, tumours and wounds[, ].

The roots, steeped in water, are taken to treat headache, malaria and back pain[, ].

Other Uses

The heartwood is pale yellowish brown when freshly cut, darkening to deep brown upon exposure, and sometimes lustrous; it is not distinctly demarcated from the slightly paler sapwood[]. The grain is usually interlocked, texture even and moderately fine to fine[]. The wood has a distinct camphor-like smell[]. The wood is medium-weight; moderately durable to durable, being very resistant to decay but somewhat susceptible to termite and marine borer attacks, whilst the sapwood is susceptible to powder-post beetle attack. Once dry, the wood is quite stable in service[]. It is easy to saw, and it works satisfactorily with both hand and machine tools; the blunting effect on cutting edges is small - a 15 - 20° cutting angle is recommended in sawing and planing to avoid picking up of interlocked grain; in nailing the wood has a tendency to split at the edges or ends, but the nail-holding power is satisfactory; gluing and staining do not give problems, but the use of a filler is required for optimum polishing results. It is rarely peeled because logs are rarely sound at the centre. The steam bending properties are moderate. The wood, often traded as ‘camphor’, is valued for joinery, panelling, poles for building, doors, window frames, shutters, furniture, cabinet work, vehicle bodies, sliced veneer and plywood. It is used for flooring of local houses and for implements. The wood is suitable for construction, ship building, boxes, crates, vats, matches and pulpwood. It is less suitable for draining boards and kitchen utensils because of the camphor-like smell.
The wood is used as firewood and for charcoal production[, ].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as ripe[]. Seeds should be cleaned from the surrounding pulp before sowing by rubbing in water[]. The germination rate is often low, up to 45%. Seeds usually start germinating in 30 - 45 days, but germination may take up to 90 days[].
Propagation by root suckers is easy; these are often produced abundantly[].

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