A common tree in natural habitats The wood which is yellowish-white, is used for construction purposes. A decoction of the bark is taken to purify blood, as an appetizer, purgative and carminative. A leaf decoction is used to wash the abdomen of women after childbirth. The bark,
Details
§ 01
uses
The wood which is yellowish-white, is used for construction purposes. A decoction of the bark is taken to purify blood, as an appetizer, purgative and carminative. A leaf decoction is used to wash the abdomen of women after childbirth. The bark, wood and leaves are known to have febrifugal and stomachic properties.
family
Apocynaceae
synonym
Cerbera parviflora G. Forst., Cerbera oppositifolia Lam.
description
Small to medium evergreen trees, bark pale grey with white latex. Leaves in whorls of 4, sometimes opposite, simple, obovate to elliptic, 8–35 × 3–15 cm, base of decurrent, apex rounded, petiole 1–6.5 cm long. Inflorescence a terminal cyme, but often seemingly axillary, many-flowered; peduncle 2–14 cm long; lower bracts leafy, broadly ovate. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous, almost sessile. Sepals connate at base, ovate, 1–2 mm long, thick. Corolla creamy to white, tube 4–10 mm long, cylindrical, slightly widened around the stamens, lobes elliptical, 5–9 × 2–3 mm, apex rounded, spreading. Ovary superior, consisting of 2 free carpels, ending in an ovoid pistil head, with a basal ring and a 2-lobed apex. Fruit of 2 free ovoid × to ellipsoid drupes 5–8 3–5.5 cm, apex rounded or apiculate, indehiscent, mesocarp fibrous, each drupe 1–2 seeded; seeds elliptical, flattened, 1.5–2.5 cm long, winged. K. Schum