Common Name:

General Information

Triplochiton scleroxylon is a deciduous tree growing up to 50 metres tall. The bole is straight, often angular and strongly ridged; it can be branchless for up to 30 metres. It is usually up to 150cm in diameter, with exceptional specimens up to 210cm, with buttresses that can be up to 8 metres high[].
One of the major timber species of western Africa, it has been heavily exploited from the wild and is now commonly planted as a timber crop within its native range and also sometimes outside its range[]. The tree is also utilized locally for food and medicines.
As a widely distributed pioneer species Triplochiton scleroxylon is not easily liable to genetic erosion, but in many regions within its distribution area it is under profound pressure because of excessive exploitation[]. In some areas the range of the plant is extending because of its successful colonisation of logged and abandoned farm land. It is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2011)[].

Known Hazards

The sawdust has been known to cause occupational allergic contact dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and asthma in workers in sawmills[].

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Gabon, Central African Republic and DR Congo.

Habitat

Lowland half-deciduous forest; abandoned cultivated ground in transition zone between rain- and half-deciduous forest; old secondary forests[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Least Concern
Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	40.00 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moist, lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 900 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 24 - 30°c, but can tolerate 18 - 36°c[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,600 - 2,400mm, but tolerates 1,000 - 4,000mm[].
Requires a sunny position[]. Succeeds in most well-drained, fertile soils[]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6.5, tolerating 4.5 - 7.5[].
A very fast-growing tree. Under natural conditions seedlings may reach 15 metres tall and 15cm in stem diameter after 4 years. Mean annual diameter increment in the forest averages 1cm, but in Nigeria mean annual diameter increments of up to 2.5cm have been recorded and in the Central African Republic as low as 0.3cm. In a 19-year-old plantation in Ghana with 600 stems/ha, the trees were on average 21.8 metres tall with a bole diameter of 27cm[].

Edible Uses

Leaves - cooked[]. They are used as a cooked vegetable or sauce in traditional cuisine in west Africa[, ].

Medicinal

The plant is used in traditional medicine to treat oedemas and as an anodyne[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The trees are often preserved in cocoa plantations to serve as shade trees[]. In Nigeria Triplochiton scleroxylon is planted in agroforestry systems with cocoa[].
The plant is a natural pioneer species, rapidly invading open land in situations such as abandoned farm land. It could be used to help re-establish native forest or as a nurse tree in establishing a woodland garden[, ].

Other Uses

The bark is used to cover the roof and walls of huts[].

The heartwood is whitish to pale yellow; it is indistinctly demarcated from the up to 15cm wide band of somewhat lighter sapwood. The grain is usually interlocked, sometimes straight; texture is moderately coarse. The wood has a ribbon-like aspect on quarter-sawn faces, and is lustrous. Fresh wood has an unpleasant smell, which disappears upon drying. The wood is very light in weight; very soft; not durable, being liable to fungal attack (e.g. blue stain), and susceptible to termites, powder-post beetles and dry-wood borers - it should not be used in contact with the ground or exposed to the weather. It seasons rapidly with little risk of checking or distortion; once dry it is moderately stable to stable in service. It works easily with hand and machine tools; ordinary saw teeth and cutting tools can be used; sharp edges are needed for a smooth finish, and the wood tends to tear in mortising - a cutting angle of 15° is recommended when planing to prevent tearing; peeling and slicing properties are good; the wood stains and polishes well; filling is recommended to obtain a good finish; nailing and screwing properties are rather poor; splitting may occur; gluing does not cause problems, although it must be done carefully as the wood is absorbent. The carving characteristics are good. The wood is widely used for interior joinery, panelling, moulding, furniture, boxes and crates, sculptures, matches, pencils, peeled and sliced veneer for interior and exterior parts of plywood, fibre and particle boards, and block board. It is of great importance for house building, for beams, posts and planks, and is also used for roof shingles. The wood from the buttresses is used to make doors, platters, bowls and sandals, and the bole is used for dugout canoes. The wood pulp can be used to produce paper of moderate quality[, ].

Propagation

Seed - it starts to germinate 1 - 2 weeks after sowing, but the germination rate is often low. Germination rate and speed increase when the seeds are pre-treated by moistening between layers of damp cotton wool[]. Fruits with wings removed are shallowly buried in pots, which are placed under shade. The seedlings are pricked out when first leaves appear. They are fragile and sensitive to damping off[]. They develop a taproot, which is often forked, with few lateral roots in the upper 15cm of the soil. The taproot of a 2 metre tall sapling may be 1 metre long[]. Seedlings of 1 - 3 years old with their tops intact but the root system severely cut back to permit planting in 40 cm × 40 cm × 40 cm holes were successful[]. However, it has also been observed that cutting the primary root for planting causes serious drawbacks; new roots form slowly, which makes the plant liable to parasitic attacks[].
The fruits can be collected from the trees when still green just before maturation. Fruits stored at 18°c fully retained their viability for 18 months. However, at 25°c viability drops from about 80% to 15% after 6 months[]. More than 50% of the seeds may still germinate after being stored for 7.5 years in sealed containers at 4°c[].
Single-node cuttings with one leaf were rooted successfully under mist; rooting was improved by a hormone dip and a high temperature in the bed (30°c)[].
Cuttings 10cm long with 2 - 4 leaves taken from 2 month-old branches can be used. These are placed in a nursery under 40 - 60% shade under mist. It takes about 12 weeks to obtain a rooted and hardened plantlet[].
Marcotting is possible by ringing a branch at an internode; results are optimal when the foliage is at maximum density, between August and October, with up to 50% success in 12-year-old trees[].

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