Common Name:

General Information

Christiana africana is a tree with a spreading crown; usually growing 6 - 12 metres tall, with some specimens up to 21 metres having been recorded[]. The short, square bole can be up to 45cm in diameter[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of wood.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Senegal, west to Kenya and south to Angola, also in Madagascar; S. America - Brazil, the Guyanas; C. America - Costa Rica to Mexico.

Habitat

An understorey tree of evergreen and deciduous forest; transition and fringing forest; along stream; often in wet places, mainly in the drier parts of the forest regions; degraded forest (Kenya); at elevations from 100 - 1,000 metres[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	10.00 m
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

A maceration of the leaf is used in washings against diarrhoea and palpitations, and an infusion of young leaves is drunk hot to treat dysentery[].

Bark preparations are used to treat stomach problems and gonorrhoea[].

Three compounds that have cardiotonic activity have been isolated from the bark and wood: the polyphenol scopoletol, the triterpene taraxerol and the peptide alkaloid frangulanine[].

Other Uses

The leaves are used for wrapping cola nuts and foods to be sold in the market[].

The heartwood is light brown with purplish blue ripple marks; the sapwood whitish yellow to pale brown. The wood is hard, heavy, resilient, durable, with a handsome grain[, ]. It is made into axe-handles, stools and basins[].

Propagation

Seed - when sown fresh it germinates within 15 - 20 days[].

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