Allanblackia floribunda

Last updated

Allanblackia floribunda
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Clusiaceae
Genus: Allanblackia
Species:
A. floribunda
Binomial name
Allanblackia floribunda

Allanblackia floribunda, known in English as 'tallow tree', is a species of flowering plant in the family Clusiaceae that has been long used in traditional African medicine to treat hypertension. [1] It is a common understory tree in rainforests in western central Africa - from Sierra Leone to western Cameroon, and on into the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The medium-sized tree (up to 30 meters tall) is evergreen and dioecious (male and female flowers on different plants). The wood is said to be resistant to termites but is not particularly durable. It is fairly easy to work and finishes well but it is of little commercial importance though it has appeared on the market in Liberia as "lacewood". [2]

Uses

The wood is used in Nigeria in hut-building for making walls, doors, and window frames, and in Liberia for planks. In Ghana, small trees are cut for poles and used as mine pit props and bridge piles. The twigs are used in Ghana as candlesticks, and the smaller ones as chew-sticks and tooth-picks in Ghana and Gabon. [2] The inner bark contains a sticky yellow resin. The bark has anodyne properties. In the Region, it is pounded and rubbed on the body to relieve painful conditions. In Gabon, a decoction is taken for dysentery and as a mouthwash for toothache, and in Congo (Brazzaville) for stomach pains. In Congo, a decoction of the bark or the leaves is taken for cough, asthma, bronchitis, and other bronchial affections while the lees from this preparation are rubbed over areas of pain after scarification.

The tree's fruit is not edible but its seeds are the source of Allanblackia Oil long used by local populations. Nigeria is developing infrastructure for international-scale commercial use. It is estimated Nigeria produced about 50 tons of Allan Lacki oil in 2006. Domesticating Allanblackia floribunda is being attempted. Presently the seed is collected only from wild stands or from trees retained on farmland (When clearing land for cultivation trees are left and managed, especially for shading cocoa).

Related Research Articles

<i>Panda oleosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Panda is a plant genus of the family Pandaceae. It contains only one known species, Panda oleosa, native to western and central Africa.

<i>Harungana</i> Genus of flowering plants

Harungana is a genus of African flowering plants within the St. Johnswort family, Hypericaceae.

<i>Irvingia gabonensis</i> Species of tree

Irvingia gabonensis is a species of African trees in the genus Irvingia, sometimes known by the common names wild mango, African mango, or bush mango. They bear edible mango-like fruits, and are especially valued for their fat- and protein-rich nuts.

<i>Allanblackia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Allanblackia is a genus of flowering plant in the family Clusiaceae. Molecular phylogenetic analyses indicate that is it nested in the dioecious Garcinia. The genus name commemorates Allan Black.

<i>Garcinia kola</i> Species of tree

Garcinia kola (bitter kola is a species of flowering plant belonging to the Mangosteen genus Garcinia of the family Clusiaceae. It is found in Benin, Cameroon, The Gambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

<i>Monodora myristica</i> Species of tree

Monodora myristica, the calabash nutmeg, is a tropical tree of the family Annonaceae or custard apple family of flowering plants. It is native to Angola, Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda. In former times, its seeds were widely sold as an inexpensive nutmeg substitute. This is now less common outside its region of production. Other names of calabash nutmeg include Jamaican nutmeg, African nutmeg, ehuru, ariwo, awerewa, ehiri, airama, African orchid nutmeg, muscadier de Calabash and lubushi.

<i>Corynanthe johimbe</i> Species of flowering plant

Corynanthe johimbe, common name yohimbe, is a plant species in the family Rubiaceae native to western and central Africa. Extracts from yohimbe have been used in traditional medicine in West Africa as an aphrodisiac and have been marketed in developed countries as dietary supplements.

Triplochiton is a genus of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. It is a small genus of trees comprising tall tropical African trees with palmately lobed alternate leaves like those of the maple and being included in the Sterculiaceae subfamily of Malvaceae.

<i>Margaritaria discoidea</i> Species of tree

Margaritaria discoidea is a tree in the family Phyllanthaceae, commonly known as the pheasant-berry, egossa red pear or bushveld peacock-berry. These trees are native to the warmer, higher rainfall areas of Africa.

<i>Omphalocarpum elatum</i> Species of tree

Omphalocarpum elatum Miers is a tall, tropical African tree belonging to the family Sapotaceae, remarkable for the large fruits growing directly from the trunk, and in many ways resembling the Lecythidaceae genus Napoleonaea. It is found in Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, the Central African Republic, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Liberia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Angola in the south. The fruits are favoured by elephants, the only animals able to break through the hard shell. They do this by skewering the fruit with a tusk while using their trunk to brace it against the ground. Having passed through the elephant's digestive tract, seeds germinate more readily. Although not yet endangered, the tree's life cycle is tied to that of forest elephants, and may become threatened in regions where elephant populations are under pressure.

Allanblackia oil is a vegetable oil that comes from the seeds of trees of the genus Allanblackia. This tree can be found in the wet tropical belt of Africa. Because of its unique blend of fatty acids, the oil from Allanblackia seeds has melting properties that make it excellent to use as structuring fat in food products, e.g. margarines.

Brachystegia eurycoma, a plant in the family Fabaceae, is a sizable species of tree found in southern Nigeria and western Cameroon. It has a spreading, flattened crown.

<i>Strombosia pustulata</i> Species of rainforest tree in West and Central Africa

Strombosia pustulata is a species of tree in the family Olacaceae. It is native to the rainforests of tropical West and Central Africa. Common names for this tree include itako in Nigeria, afina in Ghana, poé in Abé spoken in Côte d'Ivoire and mba esogo in Equatorial Guinea.

<i>Lannea welwitschii</i> Species of tree

Lannea welwitschii is a species of tree in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to the tropical rainforests of West and Central Africa. The timber is used to make furniture and utensils and for many other purposes, the fruits can be eaten, and the bark is used to produce a dye, for making rope and in traditional medicine.

<i>Lophira lanceolata</i> Species of tree

Lophira lanceolata, commonly known as the dwarf red ironwood, is a species of tree in the family Ochnaceae which is native to tropical West and Central Africa. The timber is used for heavy construction, an edible oil can be extracted from the seeds and various parts of the plant are used in traditional medicine.

<i>Brachystegia laurentii</i> Species of legume

Brachystegia laurentii, a plant in the family Fabaceae, is a species of large tree found in western Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. It has a dense, umbrella-shaped crown. The wood is known as bomanga and has many uses in building and construction.

<i>Garcinia mannii</i> Species of plant

Garcinia mannii is a dioecious and evergreen flowering tree in the family Clusiaceae or Guttiferae. The specific epithet (mannii) honors German botanist Gustav Mann. It is not to be confused with Garcinia mannii var. brevipedicellata, a synonym for Garcinia brevipedicellata.

Strychnos icaja is a species belonging to the plant family Loganiaceae, native to West Tropical Africa. It is a very large, tropical rainforest liana which may attain a length of 100 m (330 ft).

Albizia altissima is a low branching tree within the Fabaceae family, it grows along river banks in the Lower and Upper Guinea forests..

Chrysophyllum africanum is a medium sized tree within the Sapotaceae family. It is sometimes known as the African Star Apple along with the closely related Chrysophyllum Albidum. Both species have similar leaf indumentum and are widespread in the Lower and Upper Guinea forest mosaic.

References

  1. Bilanda, DC; Dimo, T; Dzeufiet Djomeni, PD; Bella, NM; Aboubakar, OB; Nguelefack, TB; Tan, PV; Kamtchouing, P (April 2010). "Antihypertensive and antioxidant effects of Allanblackia floribunda Oliv. (Clusiaceae) aqueous extract in alcohol- and sucrose-induced hypertensive rats". J. Ethnopharmacol. 128 (3): 634–40. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2010.02.025. PMID   20193752.
  2. 1 2 "Allanblackia floribunda Oliv. [family GUTTIFERAE]". JSTOR Global Plants.