Common Name:

General Information

Pouteria adolfi-friedericii is a large tree with a relatively small, dense crown; it can grow up to 50 metres tall. It has a straight, cylindrical bole that can be up to 150cm in diameter and is free of branches for up to 27 metres. Mature trees are sometimes fluted and usually have wide buttresses at the base[, ].
Harvested from the wild, the tree is a source of food, medicines and wood for the local population. The wood is highly valued and is often traded on the international market[]. The tree is sometimes grown in plantation conditions for its timber and is also grown as a shade tree[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, DR Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe.

Habitat

Mainly found in upland rainforest, frequently associated with Podocarpus, rarely in riverine forest, at elevations from 1,430 - 2,500 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	40.00 m
Growth Rate	Slow
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A slow-growing tree[].
Trees can be coppiced and pollarded[].
Natural regeneration in the forest is poor[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw[]. The pulp of ripe fruits has a sweet flavour[]. The greenish fruit is a narrowly ellipsoid berry up to 4cm long with a beak up to 1cm long[]. It has a hard skin and contains a single, shiny brown seed up to 3cm long[].

An oil obtained from the seed is used for cooking[]. The seeds are pounded, boiled, the liquid filtered off and cooled; the oil which floats to the top of the pot is then skimmed off[].

Medicinal

A bark decoction is drunk to treat stomach disorders[]..

The fruits are used as a traditional taenicidal drug, usually as a paste in barley porridge[].
Tests in Ethiopia have shown that the expulsion time of the tapeworm Taenia saginata when using these fruits is about 30 hours in humans. However, fruit extracts have also shown moderate toxicity[]. As a taenicidal drug, therefore, the fruits are of comparatively poor value considering their toxicity, potency and worm expulsion time[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The tree is used as a shade tree in plantations[].
The roots are associated with arbuscular mycorrhizae[].

Other Uses

The heartwood is pale greyish brown with a pink tinge and not distinctly demarcated from the sapwood. The grain is straight or wavy; texture moderately fine to coarse; the wood is lustrous and shows a mottled figure when the grain is wavy[]. The wood is moderately light, it is not durable and liable to attack by fungi, termites, pinhole borers and marine borers. It contains up to 0.3% silica and consequently the blunting effect on saws and cutting tools may be high - stellite-tipped sawteeth and tungsten-carbide tools are recommended. The wood planes well; takes a good polish; the nailing and screwing properties are good; and it stains, paints and glues well[]. Good veneer can be produced by slicing and rotary peeling[]. It is valued for furniture and is also suitable for light construction, light flooring, interior trim, joinery, cabinet work, boats, vehicle bodies, boxes and crates, veneer and plywood, and pulpwood[].
The wood is used for fuel and to make charcoal[, ].

Propagation

Seed - it has a very limited viability and should be sown as soon as it is ripe[].

Add a Comment:

If you have any useful information about this plant, please leave a comment. Comments have to be approved before they are shown here.

Name:

Email(Private):

Message:

Captcha: How many fingers does the typical human have?