Common Name:

General Information

Pterygota macrocarpa is a deciduous tree with a small, dense crown; it can grow up to 35 metres tall. The cylindrical bole is up to 120cm in diameter, with very large, thin and wavy buttresses[].
The tree provides a large bulk of utilisable timber and so is heavily exploited from the wild throughout its range - the wood is traded internationally. The tree also has local medicinal uses. It is sometimes retained as a shade tree in cacao plantations and has been grown as a timber crop in plantations.
A common tree of dry forests, regeneration is reported to be abundant in areas of logging damage but exploitation for its timber is occurring at high levels throughout its range and this is likely to be causing population declines. The plant is classified as 'Vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2011)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Cameroon, south to ?Gabon, Congo and DR Congo.

Habitat

Dense and humid semi-deciduous forest and gallery forest, often as common in logged and disturbed forests as it is in undisturbed forests[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Vulnerable
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	30.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

Young plants are tolerant of shade, but require increasing light levels if they are to grow larger. Older trees require high light levels[]. Plants are tolerant of wet and leached soils, but prefer drier, base-rich conditions[].
Plantation trees in Côte d’Ivoire had a mean annual bole diameter growth of 17 - 19mm a year at 14 years after planting. In unthinned natural forest, diameter growth was estimated at 4mm per year; whilst in thinned natural forest it was estimated at 9mm per year[].
Young plants prefer light shade, and saplings are more abundant in forest affected by logging damage than in undisturbed forest, whereas germination is depressed in large gaps. In Ghana seedling regeneration is highest in burnt forest, but trees with a bole diameter ove r5 cm were found to be less abundant in burnt than in unburnt forest[].
The minimum legal felling diameter is 60cm in Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, and 110cm in Ghana[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

A decoction of the leaves is drunk against stomach, bladder and urinary problems and against flatulence[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The tree is occasionally retained as a shade tree in cacao plantations[].

Other Uses

The large leaves are used as temporary thatch and for wrapping food[].

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 little risk of surface checking or twisting, but with some risk of extension of shakes. Once dry, the stability in service is medium. 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[, ].
The wood is used for fuel[]. The energy value of the wood is 18,170 kJ/kg[].

Propagation

Seed - germination takes around 8 days if the seed is fresh[]. The seed germinates better in light to moderate shade, but soon grow better if light levels are increased[].

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