Hymenocardia acida

Botanical Description

Hymenocardia acida is a deciduous shrub or tree growing up to 10 metres tall, often looking gnarled and twisted with a characteristic rough rusty-red bark[ 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. ]. The bole, which is often stunted or contorted, can be up to 30cm in diameter[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ]. The plant is especially valued for its medicinal virtues in Africa, where it is commonly gathered from the wild for this purpose[ 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/ ]. It also provides food, wood and tannins for local use and is sometimes planted to prevent soil erosion.