Pterocarpus soyauxii
Pterocarpus soyauxii
Safety & Hazards
The dry sawdust may cause irritation to skin, nose and bronchi[1].
Cultivation Details
A plant of the lowland wet tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 500 metres. It grows best in areas where the mean annual temperature is about 23°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall of 1,500 - 1,700mm[1, 2]. Requires a sunny position[1, 2]. Prefers a moist but well-drained deep soil[1, 2]. Seedling growth is rather fast. In a trial plantation in Cote d'Ivoire, annual height growth in the first 7 years varied between 1.6 metres and 2.7 metres[1]. Trees do not coppice well, stump regrowth is weak and uneconomic for wood production[1, 2]. This species is one of several that supply a red resin from their stem. This resin, often known as 'Dragon's Blood' is often used as an external application to treat a range of skin problems and injuries[3]. Dragon's Blood can be obtained from several species in this genus, as well as from three other distinct genera - Dracaena species, Croton species and Daemonorops species[3] 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[1].
Propagation
Seed - an easy process[1]. In a test in Nigeria, 86% of the seeds, with the fruit wall removed, were soaked overnight in water and then germinated in 7 days[1]. Seedlings can be planted out into the field about 40 days after sowing[1]. Seedling growth showed a greater response after inoculation of the soil with fungi from the rhizosphere of the mother tree than after inoculation with a similar spore number of fungi from a fallow field[1]. Propagation by non-woody cuttings in normal topsoil gave 83% success[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Pterocarpus+soyauxii>
Pollinators
Insects
References
- [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]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.
- [3]A Systematic Review of the Botanical, Phytochemical and Pharmacological Profile of Dracaena cochinchinensis, a Plant — Jia-Yi Fan et al · 2014 · http://10.3390/molecules190710650 · ISBN 1420-3049 ↩︎
- [4]African Flowering Plants Database — Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. · http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php ↩︎Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
- [5]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
- [6]CosIng — http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/ ↩︎CosIng is the European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients.
- [7]Tropix 7 — CIRAD · http://tropix.cirad.fr/en ↩︎An on-line guide to the timbers of 245 species of trees.