PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
Parinari curatellifolia
Chrysobalanaceae FAMILY

Parinari curatellifolia

Parinari curatellifolia

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—

A plant of the tropical and subtropical savannah, growing at elevations of 900 - 1,500 metres in areas with a pronounced dry season[1]. It grows best in areas where the mean annual temperature falls within the range 14 - 30°c, but can tolerate 10 - 36°c[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 400 - 1,000mm, tolerating 100 - 2,700mm[2]. Prefers a deep soil in a sunny position[3]. Grows best in light soils[4]. Often found on light yellowish-brown to reddish-yellow, gritty, sandy clay loams and red to dark red friable clays with lateritic horizon[2]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 7, but tolerates 5 - 7.5[2]. It can tolerate small concentrations of copper in the soil[2]. Dislikes cold winds[2]. Trees can be coppiced[5]. Because of its resistance to fire it features prominently in fire-maintained wooded grassland, especially in upland areas on the former site of montane forest[6].

Propagation

Seed - it remains viable in normal storage for at least 4 years[5]. The seeds should be sown in river sand in flat seed trays. Press the seeds down until they are level with the soil surface and cover with a thin layer of sand. Germination is very poor and prolonged, commencing after about 5 weeks. Seedlings should be transplanted in the 3-leaf stage. Be careful when transplanting the seedlings, the taproot is easily damaged[5]. Plant out when about 30cm tall. Root suckers. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Parinari+curatellifolia>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]Useful Plants of Nyasaland — Williamson J. · The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland. · 1955 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Brief details of the uses of almost 500 species of plants.
  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]Tropical and Subtropical Trees - A Worldwide Encyclopaedic Guide. — Barwick. M. · Thames & Hudson, London · 2004 · ISBN 0-500-51181-0 ↩︎A superb book, very concise and well written, giving a wealth of information on 400 or more species including descriptions, habitat, cultivation details and plant uses. A wealth of colour photographs bring each plant vividly to life.
  4. [4]Perennial Edible Fruits of the Tropics : an Inventory — Martin, F. W.; Campbell, C. W.; Rubertbe, R. M. · U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service · 1987 ↩︎A booklet giving terse details of almost 300 species of edible fruits, plus regional lists of Botanical and Common names for over 2,500 less well-known edible fruits of the tropics.
  5. [5]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.
  6. [6]Flora Zambesiaca — http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html ↩︎An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants.
  7. [7]Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania — Ruffo, C.K.: Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B. · Regional Land Management Unit; Nairobi. · 2002 · ISBN 9966-896-60-0 ↩︎A very well presented, simple guide to growing and utilizing wild food plants in Tanzania, with line drawings of each plant, a description, habitat and range, non-food as well as food uses, plus basic information on growing the plants.
  8. [8]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  9. [9]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.