Edible Parts: Fruit  Leaves  Oil  Seed
Edible Uses: Oil

Young leaves - cooked[332 ]. They are commonly eaten in a vegetable-soup - the soup being so highly considered by the local people as to evoke the saying that 'one will kill his child for the sake of ibishere soup'[332 ]. Fruit - raw[332 , 398 ]. The fruit contains 5 - 15 seeds, each surrounded by a sweet or acidulous pulp which is generally well-liked and commonly eaten[301 , 332 , 398 ]. The fruit is heart-shaped and may attain 10 - 15 cm in diameter, it is very hard and green when unripe, but turns yellow and soft when mature[332 ]. Seed - cooked[332 ]. The seed contains about 45% oil, of which linoleic comprises about 93% of the whole[332 ]. The kernel is about 10mm long by 5 - 7mm wide, it is enclosed in a woody pericarp amounting to 60 - 65% in weight of the whole[332 ]. The seed also contains about 19% sugars and 30% proteins[332 ]. The protein is unusually rich in cystine, which is of potential value to a population suffering from a chronic deficiency of sulphur-bearing amino acids[332 ].

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Antidiarrhoeal  Antihaemorrhoidal  Antitussive  Cholagogue  Dysentery  Febrifuge  Malaria  Odontalgic  
Parasiticide

The bark is said to be antidysenteric, cholagogue and taenifuge[332 ]. It is used in the treatment of chest-complaints[332 ]. Scrapings of the bark, cooked in palm-oil, are taken to relieve sore-throat[332 ]. The leaves are chopped up small are eaten raw with salt for treating heart-troubles; pregnancy complications; dysmenorrhoea; and incipient hernia[332 ]. An extract of the leaves, combined with Alchornea spp., is used in the treatment of dysentery, and the leafy shoots are chewed for this same purpose[332 ]. The liquid in which young leaf-flushes and a peeled green banana have been boiled is a medicine taken little and often to stop diarrhoea and vomiting[299 , 332 ]. The leaves are an ingredient of a febrifuge given to small children[299 , 332 ]. The leaf or leaf-petiole is beaten into a plaster for application to boils[332 ]. Sap from the young leaves, or the terminal buds, is applied topically to toothache; applied to the chest to treat bronchitis; or is used as a throat-paint for laryngitis or sore throat[332 ]. It is used as an analgesic for muscular pains, and is put into enemas for haemorrhoids[332 ]. When combined with the leaves of Holarrhena floribunda and a chilli, it is used in an enema to relieve pain in the back and loins[332 ]. The aerial roots yield an abundant amount of sap when cut up. This is drunk as an anti-tussive and anti-diarrhoeic, and as a remedy for haematuria and blennorrhoea[332 ]. A vapour-bath made from the diced roots, combined with maleguetta pepper, is used in the treatment of headache[332 ]. The whole fruit is boiled in sap from the tree or in palm wine or other fruit ferments to take as an emeto-purgative[332 ]. It is preferred to the less active bark or leaves which may also be used for the same purpose[332 ]. Several pentacyclic triterpenoids have been isolated from the wood and the roots[299 ]. Euscaphic acid, myrianthic acid, tormentic acid, ursolicacid and a derivative of ursenoic acid have been isolated from stems[299 ]. Myrianthinic acid was isolated from the bark[299 ]. The wood also contains myrianthiphyllin, a lignan cinnamate[299 ]. Bark extracts of Myrianthus arboreus have shown antiplasmodial, antimycobacterial and antitrypanosomal effects in vitro, which supports some of its uses in traditional medicine, e.g. To treat malaria[299 ].

Fencing  Fuel  Mulch  Oil  Parasiticide  Repellent  Soap making  Soil conditioner  Teeth  Wood

Agroforestry Uses: The leaves are enormous, to 70 cm across, digitately compound of 7 - 9 leaflets, the largest attaining 50 cm length by 25 cm breadth. When they fall and lie on the ground they form a good groundcover retaining moisture and rotting down to form a thick humus[332 ]. Other Uses Lye can be extracted from the ash of the wood and this is used in making soap[299 , 303 , 332 ]. Extracts of the plant have been shown to deter the termite Reticulitermes lucifugus[299 , 303 ]. The yellowish-white wood is moderately light, soft, fibrous and difficult to work[332 , 364 ]. It is used to make domestic utensils[364 ]. Though perishable it is also used for fencing[332 ]. The wood is used for fuel[332 , 398 ].

Special Uses

Food Forest