Common Name:

General Information

Santiria trimera is a tree growing up to 26 metres tall. The straight, cylindrical bole is about 20 - 50cm in diameter with tall, narrow buttresses and stilt roots[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of wood. A popular fruit in parts of Africa, it is sometimes cultivated, especially in Sierra Leone, and the fruits are often sold in local markets[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Central African Republic, south to northern Angola and DR Congo.

Habitat

Along rivers; swampy places; forest on firm ground; gallery; rain-forest; open forest with Gaertnera paniculata; secondary rain-forest with Aulacocalyx jasminiflora, Whitfieldia lateritia, etc.; at elevations up to 1,515 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	20.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw or cooked[]. There are mixed views on the quality of the fruit - in Gabon, for example, it is generally seen as having a vinous taste and is much appreciated, in some other areas the fruits are seen as tasting and smelling of turpentine and they are not liked by many of people[].The black fruits are up to 25mm long[].

Seed. Rich in oil[].

Medicinal

The bark is aromatic with a smell like balsam. It yields an oleo-resin, though its use for therapeutic purposes is not recorded in West Africa[].

The bark is used as a treatment against chest complaints[]. The powdered bark, mixed with salt and palm-oil, is given to children as a treatment for whooping-cough, and is also considered to be vermifugal[].
The powdered bark is sprinkled on the sores of yaws[]. Bark-decoctions are used in massages and vapour-baths to treat fever-pains and eczema[].

Tannins, steroids and terpenes have been recorded in the bark and roots[].

Other Uses

The bark is aromatic with a smell like balsam. It yields an oleo-resin[].

The greyish to yellowish brown wood is fine-grained and even-textured. It is used to make a number of domestic articles and is also used for carving. The adventive aerial roots are used to decorate axe-handles and hunting-bows[].

Propagation

Seed -

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