Carpolobia lutea

Useful Tropical Plants

Useful Tropical Plants

NAME:  Carpolobia lutea

FAMILY:    Polygalaceae

COMMON NAMES:  Cattlestick, poor man’s candle

LOCAL NAMES:   Osunsun, Uziza, Aghba –awa

MORPHORLOGICAL DESCRIPTION: Carpolobia lutea is a short fruit producing tree growing to about 15ft in height.

USEFUL PART(s):  Leaves, bark, root, fruit           

GENERAL USES:

  • Edible leaves as vegetable

  • Edible fruit

  • Wood is used for making household utensils

  • Used as an aphrodisiac herbal medicine

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION:

Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone

WHY IS IT GREEN?

  • Rheumatism

  • Aphrodisiac

  • Toothache

  • Ulcer

  • Malaria

  • Genetourinary

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

It is resistant to termites

FUN FACT:

Extract from Cattle stick leave could help to protect chemical messengers in the brain which play a vital role in functions including memory and learning.

FURTHER READING:

Nwidu, L. L., Nwafor, P. A., & Vilegas, W. (2015). The aphrodisiac herb Carpolobia: A biopharmacological and phytochemical review. In Pharmacognosy Reviews. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-7847.162128

Ogunsile, B. O., & Quintana, G. C. (2010). Modeling of soda - ethanol pulps from Carpolobia lutea. BioResources. https://doi.org/10.15376/biores.5.4.2417-2430

Ogunwande, I. A., Flamini, G., Avoseh, N. O., & Banwo, I. D. (2014). Essential oil of carpolobia lutea. Chemistry of Natural Compounds. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10600-014-0958-0