Edible Parts: Fruit  Oil
Edible Uses: Oil

Fruit - raw or cooked[ 301 ]. A pleasant, subacid flavour[ 335 ]. The leathery shelled stone is surrounded by a pulpy, butyraceous pericarp about 5 mm thick which is the portion eaten, either raw, or cooked to form a sort of 'butter'[ 332 ]. When placed in hot water it softens and swells and all the flesh then slides easily off the seed[ 301 ]. The fruit flesh is softened by cell-wall-degrading enzymes. At temperatures of 60 - 85c this is accomplished in a matter of minutes; at room temperature, it takes 7 - 10 days, with bruising and microbes reducing this period to 3 days[ 299 ]. Boiling inactivates the enzymes so that the pulp hardens[ 299 ]. The fruit is usually salted and tastes like a warmed ripe avocado with a slightly sour flavour[ 301 ]. It has a mild smell of turpentine and is oily with palmitic acid 36.5%, oleic acid 33.9 %, linoleic acid 24.0% and stearic acid 5.5%[ 332 ]. The fruit contains 7% protein, which is very high for a fruit[ 301 ]. The fruit is up to 70mm long and 30mm wide[ 332 ]. The seed kernel is also rich in oil of the same fatty acids and approximately in similar amounts[ 332 ]. Carbon Farming - Staple Crop: protein-oil.

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Antiemetic  Dysentery  Emmenagogue  Mouthwash

The resin from the bark is used to treat parasitic skin diseases, jiggers etc[ 46 , 332 ]. A bark-decoction is taken powdered with maleguetta pepper as an anti-dysenteric, and for anaemia, spitting blood and as an emmenagogue[ 303 ]. The decoction is also used for making gargles and mouth-washes, for treating tonsillitis[ 332 ]. The pulped-up bark is used as a wound cicatrizant[ 332 ]. Combined with palm-oil, it is applied topically to relieve general pains and stiffness and to treat cutaneous conditions[ 332 ]. The leaves are eaten raw with kola nut as an antiemetic[ 332 ]. The leaf-sap is instilled into the ear for ear-trouble[ 332 ]. A leaf-decoction is prepared as a vapour-bath for treating feverish stiffness with headache[ 332 ].

Adhesive  Biomass  Cosmetic  Dye  Essential  Fuel  Lighting  Oil  Resin  Soil conditioner  Waterproofing  Wood

Agroforestry Uses: The leaves and the remains of the fruits can provide considerable quantities of biomass to improve soil fertility. Research carried out in the forest humid lowland of south Cameroon, showed that the peasant farmers use the tree as a good indicator of soils fertility[ 303 ]. The plant's canopy can allow its integration into the traditional farming systems involving food crops, mainly shade tolerant species such as Xanthosoma saggittifolium, Colocosia esculenta etc[ 303 ]. Other Uses: The bark is aromatic and on injury yields a resin[ 46 , 332 ]. This is used in various ways - in perfumery; as an adhesive for mending broken earthenware; as a waterproofing the inner surface of calabashes; it can also be burnt as a primitive lamp-oil or bush-candle[ 332 ]. The resin, under steam distillation, has been reported to yield a peppery essential oil rich in sabinene, _-phellandrene and limonene, and a non-volatile fraction of crystalline canaric acid, a keto acid and the corresponding hydroxy acid[ 332 ]. The fruit contains about 1.5% essential oil. Its main constituents are: myrcene (45%), alpha-pinene (9%), alpha-terpineol (8%) and germacrene-D (4%); minor compounds include: E-alpha-cadinol, sigma-cadinol and _beta-udesmol[ 299 ]. The wood contains an oil that on petrol-ether extraction has been found to be composed of fatty acids and their esters[ 303 ]. The fresh pulp is rich in lipids (35-65%) with a considerable amount of palmitic and linoleic acid. The tree can produce 7 - 8 t/ha of oil[ 303 ]. The leaves are the source of a dye[ 332 ]. The heartwood is greyish white to pinkish; it is not clearly demarcated from the sapwood. The wood is moderately heavy and elastic, the texture moderately coarse[ 299 , 303 , 332 ]. It is somewhat difficult to work due to the presence of silica, rapidly blunting tools during sawing; planing may be problematic due to the interlocked grain; staining, polishing and gluing properties are good, it can be peeled satisfactorily. It is used for axe-handles, occasionally for mortars, and is suitable for carpentry, etc[ 299 , 332 ]. The wood is used mainly for fuel[ 299 ]. Other Systems: homegarden, multistrata.

Special Uses

Carbon Farming  Food Forest