Piptadeniastrum africanum
Piptadeniastrum africanum
Safety & Hazards
The stem bark is very toxic[ 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. ]. It is used in arrow poisons, as an ordeal poison; a fish poison; and is mixed with rice to poison mice[ 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 sawdust may irritate the skin and mucous membranes[ 316 Title Tropical Timbers of the World. Ag. Handbook No. 607. Publication Author Chudnoff. Martin. Publisher USDA Forest Service. Wisconsin. Year 1984 ISBN Description Terse details on the properties of the wood of almost 400 species of trees from the Tropics. ].
Botanical Description
African greenheart is a tree that can range in height from only 5 metres in the drier areas of its range up to a large, emergent tree 50 metres tall in the wetter rainforests[ 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 straight, cylindrical bole, which can be 1.8 - 3 metres in diameter, is up to 20 metres high above the buttresses before branching, though it is often slightly sinuous and forked at a lower level[ 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 tree has many thin, high buttresses up to 4.5 metres, extending outwards at their base into many surface plank-roots[ 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/ ]. Young trees have a rounded crown, which develops into 2 distinct layers, of which the lower one disappears later and the upper one develops horizontally and ultimately becomes fragmented[ 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. ]. Adult trees have huge, flat crowns that spread in the upper canopy of the forest[ 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 trees are often briefly deciduous, but frequently do not shed all leaves at the same time[ 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 tree is the source of a valuable timber, which is being exported in increasing quantities to Europe and other destinations. The plant is also a popular traditional medicine, a source of fibre and a soap substitute. It is sometimes employed as a shade tree in plantations - often by being left as the forest around it is cleared.