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Erythrophleum couminga
Fabaceae FAMILY

Erythrophleum couminga

Erythrophleum couminga

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The bark is used as an ordeal poison[1]. The leaves are toxic to cattle, but the bark and flowers are even more poisonous[1]. The odour of the flowers is said to cause violent headaches and to kill birds[1]. The alkaloid content of the bark is 0.3 - 0.5%[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitTree
Growth—

Found in the wild on sandy soils[1]. The plant can survive bush fires[1]. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[2].

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Erythrophleum+couminga>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]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.
  2. [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  3. [3]Madagascar. An Environmental Profile. — Jenkins M.D. (Editor) · World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Cambridge. · 1987 · ISBN 2-88032-607-9 ↩︎Contains a list of the Ethnobotanical uses of Madagascar plants.