Common Name:

General Information

Pterygota bequaertii is a deciduous tree that can grow 30 - 50 metres tall. The bole is free of branches for much of its height, it can be 60 - 100cm in diameter, with winged buttresses up to 2 metres high[, ].
The tree provides a large bulk of utilisable timber and so is heavily exploited from the wild - the wood is traded internationally. The tree is also a local source of medicine and the source of an adhesive.
The species appears to be suffering declines because of levels of exploitation for its timber that occur through most of its range. The plant is classified as 'Vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2011)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Nigeria, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo and northern Angola.

Habitat

Lowland rain-forests (evergreen and half-deciduous) of moister types; gallery forest[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Vulnerable
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	35.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The dried pulverized root is applied as poultice against chest pain and intercostal pain[].

Other Uses

The sticky fruit is used as an adhesive paste[].

The heartwood is creamy white to yellowish, sometimes attractively flecked on quartersawn surfaces; it is not demarcated from the band of up to 10cm wide sapwood. The grain is straight or occasionally shallowly interlocked; texture is moderately coarse; fresh wood has an unpleasant odour. The wood is medium-weight; soft; not durable, being susceptible to fungi, dry wood borers and termites. The wood dries fairly easily with a high risk of distortion, checking or twisting and a risk of discoloration and blue stain. Once dry, the stability in service is low. The wood can be worked with normal hand and machine tools; the blunting effect on cutting edges is medium; sawing is satisfactory, but the tendency to breaking out at the bottom of the cut may be pronounced; for planing quartersawn surfaces, a reduction of the cutting angle to 20° is recommended and cutters should be kept sharp; for good surface finishing, a filler is needed; nailing and screwing properties, as well as the peeling and slicing properties are satisfactory to good; bending properties are variable, but in general the wood buckles. The wood is used for veneer, plywood, interior panelling, interior joinery, moulding, furniture, block board, fibre board, particle board and light carpentry. It is also used for staircases, light flooring, wood-frame houses, glued-laminated timber, matchboxes, boxes and crates[, ]. It is traditionally used for making bells for hunting dogs, honey containers, canoes and drums[].

Propagation

Seed -

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