| DESCRIPTION: It is an evergreen tree reaching 15-30 m in height. The bark is greyish-white or silver mottled and smooth in young trees, turning rough, flaky, creamy, light grey, dark brown or black in older trees. USE: The fruit is edible. Flowers provide good bee forage. Fruit is used as a remedy for dysentery, while a decoction of the bark is used as an antidiarrhoeic. In traditional medicine, liquid from the pounded bark and roots, mixed with water, is used as a purgative. The poisonous bark has been reported to cause human deaths. Wood is used as firewood and charcoal. The handsome evergreen tree is preserved in gardens for its deep shade. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: snake bean tree, water berry (English). FURTHER INF: It usually occurs in lowland rain forests, mountain rain forests, fringing riverian swampy forests and open woodland. It usually grows in moist conditions, sometimes even in water, and is usually found along streams and wadis and on rocky ground in high rainfall savannah. It prefers fresh, moist, well-drained soils with a high water table. |