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Combretum aculeatum
Combretaceae FAMILY

Combretum aculeatum

Combretum aculeatum

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitShrub
Growth—

A plant of drier areas in the tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 1,800 metres[1]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 30°c, though it can tolerate 15 - 45°c[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall of 300 - 700mm, but tolerates 250 - 800mm[2]. Prefers a sunny position[2]. The plant succeeds on a wide range of soils, including alluvial, sandy, stony and clay[1]. The plant is reported to withstand flooding; however in the seasonally flooded areas of Sudan, it is restricted to termite mounds, which are generally above the flood level[1]. Prefers a pH in the range 6 - 7, tolerating 5.5 - 7.5[2]. Plants respond well to coppicing[3].

Propagation

Seed - germinates well at a temperature of 25°c[1]. The seed of most, if not all, species can be stored inside the fruit for several years without losing viability[4]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Combretum+aculeatum>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Seed Leaflets — Various · Forest & Landscape. Denmark · http://en.sl.life.ku.dk/Publikationer/Udgivelser/PopulaerPublikationer.aspx?katid={D28373CC-6EF3-4EF8-B097-6D83FABF209E}&serieid={9F1C3DB1-6E7B-4CF1-AF53-F480B0CB40EF}&sort=title ↩︎A series of leaflets, jointly produced by the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, focussing on seed information for a number species, but also giving a lot of other information about each plant.
  2. [2]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  3. [3]Trees and Shrubs of the Sahel. Their Characteristics and Uses. — von Maydell H. · Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit; Germany · 1990 · ISBN 3-8236-1198-4 ↩︎A well-researched book, usually with more than one photograph of each species and good information on the plant and its uses.
  4. [4]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  5. [5]The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. — Burkil. H. M. · Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. · 1985 - 2004 ↩︎Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/