Common Name:

General Information

Triclisia patens is a climbing shrub with stems that can be up to 12 metres long and 6cm in diameter[].
The plant is a popular traditional medicine and is often harvested from the wild for local use. It is also used to make a string and to incease the strength of alcoholic beverages. It is often sold as a traditional medicine in local markets[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Senegal to Ghana and Benin.

Habitat

Rainforest and gallery forest; also common in secondary forest and on fallow land, at low to medium elevations[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Climber
Height	10.00 m
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

Sections of the stem or parched, scraped roots are added to palm wine to make it more intoxicating[].

Medicinal

A decoction of the root is drunk to treat fever and malaria. A root decoction is also taken as an emmenagogue and abortifacient[].
The root pulp is rubbed in or root sap is rubbed into scarifications as a treatment for rheumatism, arthritis, anaemia and sleeping sickness[].

A leaf or a root juice is mixed with salt in palm wine and then drunk as a treatment for coughs and bronchial disorders[].
A leaf or root decoction has a sedative effect on the heart and so is used as a wash against palpitations[].

The leaf sap has a soothing effect on coughs[].
A decoction of the leaves and twigs is drunk, or leaf pulp is rubbed in, to treat oedema of the legs[]. A decoction of the leaves is used as a nasal or ocular instillation and as a purgative or bathe against epilepsy[].

A decoction of the stem is drunk as a treatment for stomach ache[].
The stem bark is powdered and applied topically to syphilitic sores and leprosy[].

The bark pulp is used as a purgative[].

A methanol extract of the dried leaves has shown significant antiprotozoal activities against Leishmania donovani and the blood stream form of Trypanosoma brucei brucei. One of the compounds in the leaves, phaeanthine, was three times more active than Pentostam, a standard drug for the treatment of leishmaniasis, but at this concentration it is reported to be toxic to mammalian macrophages. In contrast, cocsoline was as active as the standard drug, and was not toxic to macrophages at this concentration[].
Both phaeanthine and aromoline have shown antiprotozoal activity against Trypanosoma brucei but less strongly than the standard drug[].
Phaeanthine was effective against chloroquine-resistant and non-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro; at the used concentrations the alkaloid was found to be non-toxic to mammalian cells[].
Crude ethanolic extracts of the wood and bark showed significant antiplasmodial activity, but no significant anti-amoebic effect[].
An aqueous extract of the root showed antispasmodic activity on the respiratory tract and intestinal smooth muscle tissue, which supports the traditional use of the root against bronchial and intestinal problems[].

Other Uses

The stems are made into slings which are used for climbing oil palms[].

Propagation

Seed -

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