Phyllanthaceae FAMILY

Uapaca guineensis

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

The flowers and bark are sometimes put into Nigerian arrow-poisons as ingredients that are supposed to make the flesh putrefy around the wound[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ ].

Botanical Description

Sugar plum is an evergreen tree with a dense low-branching crown; it usually grows up to 30 metres tall, though specimens to 50 metres have been recorded. The bole, which can be 120cm in diameter and unbranched for up to 13 metres, is more or less fluted and, when growing in wet soils, has large stilt-roots up to at least 5 metres high[ 328 Title African Flowering Plants Database Publication Author Website http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php Publisher Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. Year 0 ISBN Description Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map. , 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ , 965 Title Uapaca (Phyllanthaceae) in the Guineo-Congolian forest region: a synoptic revision Publication Plant Ecology and Evolution 146 (1) 75 - 94 Author Breteler F. J. Website http://dx.doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.2013.770 Publisher Royal Botanical Society of Belgium Year 2013 ISBN 2032-3913 Description A revision of the west African members of the genus Uapaca ]. The tree is mainly used locally, supplying people with food, medicines, wood and various other commodities. The timber has in the past been exported in a small way from Liberia as 'false mahogany', but present-day use appears to be entirely local. It has been felled in Sierra Leone for saw-milling but this too has ceased in recent years and the tree is now considered a weed-tree[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ ].

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeTropical Africa - through the moister regions of Central Africa from Sierra Leone to Tanzania south to Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

HabitatHigh forest and riverine forest[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ ]. Wet places in rain-forest (common along river banks); sometimes in pure stands; bushland on steep slopes; mixed evergreen forest; at elevations from sea level to 1,060 metres[ 328 Title African Flowering Plants Database Publication Author Website http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php Publisher Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. Year 0 ISBN Description Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map. ].