Common Name: Avodire

General Information

Turraeanthus africanus is a large, evergreen tree with a heavy, dark green, spreading crown; it can grow up to 35 metres tall, exceptionally to 45 metres. The bole can be unbranched for 10 - 15 metres, exceptionally to 30 metres and is up to 120cm in diameter[]. In some areas, such as Ghana, the tree has large buttresses, whilst in Sierra Leone it is only swollen, and not buttressed, and in DR Congo it is only lightly fluted[]. The bole is often irregularly and poorly shaped, and low branching[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for its timber and for local use as a medicinal plant. A very attractive and valuable timber, it is traded internationally in small quantities[]. The tree is sometimes planted on farmland[].
The plant is is exploited at moderate levels for its timber and is becoming rare in places. It is classified as 'Vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2011)[].

Known Hazards

The bark is used as a fish poison; the leaves are occasionally also used for the same purpose[].
The sawdust is very irritant and may even cause internal bleeding in wood workers; good ventilation is required[, ].

Botanical References

Range

Western tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Uganda, south to Angola and DR Congo.

Habitat

An understorey to canopy tree in lowland evergreen forest and moist semideciduous forest, often in humid localities along streams and on the margins of poorly drained meadows and swamps; occasionally to 1,500 metres[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Vulnerable
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	25.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

Young seedlings require shade, but saplings need more light for proper development, preferring small gaps in the forest. Too much light, however, often results in low branching[]. Plants often prefer sandy soils in the wild[]. Often found in poorly drained soils in the wild[].
Trees respond well to coppicing and pollarding[].
In tests in Guinea, all seedlings planted in full sun had died after 2 years, whereas more than 80% of the seedlings planted in forest understorey had survived after 3 years. Growth was slow, however, with a mean height of 150 cm after 6 years[].
Trees can produce flowers throughout the year[].
For trees in natural forest the minimum allowed felling diameter at breast height (dbh) is 60cm in Côte d’Ivoire, 70cm in Ghana and 80cm in Liberia[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

Bark extracts are taken, or added to a bath, in order to treat coughs, fevers, headache, epilepsy, filariasis, and as an abortifacient[].
The dried and pulverized bark, with salt added, is rubbed into scarifications as a treatment against hernia[].

The seed oil is used as an abortifacient[].

Several diterpenoids and triterpenoids have been isolated from the bark and seeds[].
Stem bark extracts, and some of the isolated diterpenoids, exhibited significant antimicrobial activities against the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformansand the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus[].
Alkaloids have also been isolated from the stem bark[].
Bark extracts showed some activity against the storage pest beetles Callosobruchus maculatusand Sitophilus zeamais[].
A labdane diterpenoid isolated from the bark exhibited in-vitro anti-plasmodial activity against a chloroquine resistant strain of Plasmodium falciparum[].
An ent-labdane isolated from the seeds showed in vitro cytotoxic effects on cancer cell lines[].

Other Uses

The heartwood is creamy white to pale yellow, darkening to golden yellow upon exposure to light; it is indistinctly demarcated from the 5 - 6cm wide band of sapwood. The grain is straight to interlocked; texture fine and even; the wood distinctly lustrous, with a silky shine; quartersawn surfaces often have an attractive mottled figure. The wood is medium weight; soft; it is not durable, being susceptible to fungal, dry-wood borer, termite and marine borer attacks. With some care, it air dries fairly easily and rapidly, but there is a serious risk of distortion and slight risk of checking. The wood saws and works well with ordinary equipment and with only slight dulling effects on saw teeth and cutting edges; tearing may occur in planing because of the presence of interlocked grain; it can be polished to an excellent finish; splitting is common during nailing and screwing, and pre-boring is recommended; gluing, painting and varnishing properties are all good, but the bending properties are poor. Sliced veneer of excellent quality can be produced, but the logs are often too irregular to produce good results in peeling[, ]. A valuable and decorative wood, it is used for a range of purposes including high-quality furniture, cabinet making, decorative carpentry, moulding and panelling, musical instruments, and for sliced veneer. It is suitable for light construction, flooring, ship building, vehicle bodies, toys, novelties, boxes, crates, vats, turnery, hardboard, particle board and pulpwood for paper roduction[].
The wood is used for fuel and for charcoal production[].


The whitish wood is light and easy to work[]. It is used for general carpentry and the interior finishes of houses[].

Propagation

Seed - the viability is very short and so it should be sown immediately after collection. When fresh seeds are sown the germination rate can be up to 80% within 5 - 7 weeks. Young seedlings require moist soil and quite deep shade[]. Seedlings need 10 months to reach 10cm in height, and they have to stay in the nursery for at least one year, until the first compound leaves appear[].
Wildlings are occasionally collected from the forest for planting, but they are very susceptible to drought[].

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