Vitex doniana

Vitex doniana is a tree native to the Afrotropics. Its fruits are one of several fruits called black plums. This tree is often grown for its fruits.

Description

A deciduous tree. It can be 8-14 m tall. It has a heavy rounded crown. The trunk is clear. It can be 1 m across. The bark is pale brown or grey white. It has long cracks along it and the ridges are sticky. The base of old trees has scales. The leaves occur opposite one another. They are compound leaves arranged like the fingers on a hand with 5 leaflets. They are leathery and shiny. Each leaflet can be 5-18 cm long and 3-7.5 cm wide. They have a common leaf stalk which can be 22 cm long. The base of the leaflet is wedge shaped and the tip is rounded. The flowers have a smell. They occur in dense bunches of up to 20 on a long stalk. The flower bunch can be 12 cm across. Each flower is cream with one hairy violet lobe. The outer case of the flower bud forms a hairy cup around the base of the fruit. The fruit is smooth and oblong and 3 cm long. It is green marked with white dots. The fruit turn black when ripe. The pulp is edible. Inside there is a hard nut with 1-4 seeds.

Edible Uses

The fruit can be eaten raw, cooked, or candied. It has a sweet flavour and mealy texture, tasting somewhat like prunes. It contains vitamins A and B and can be made into a good-quality jam that resembles plum jam but spreads more easily. A syrup made from the fruit pulp can be used as a nutritive sweetener in place of other syrups. The black fruit is about 2 cm long. The fruit can also be made into wine — controlled fermentation yields wine with 10.5% alcohol content, while spontaneous fermentation yields around 5%. Young twigs and leaves are an esteemed vegetable, and the leaves are frequently used as a cooking herb. Pounded leaves can be added to warm filtered grain beer to make it stronger. The seeds are roasted and brewed into a coffee-like drink. The leaves can also be used as a tea substitute.

Traditional Uses

The pounded pulp of the fruit is put in a basket and water is strained through it repeatedly. The extract is then concentrated by boiling. The ripe (black) fruit are eaten fresh. The fruit are also candied or made into jam and wine. Young leaves are cooked and eaten with peanut paste and salt and pepper. Fruit can be sun dried and stored for later use. The fruit are roasted and used to make a drink substitute for tea or coffee. The seeds inside the hard shell are edible.

Medicinal Uses

The plant is widely used in traditional medicine, and modern research has confirmed a range of physiological actions. Consumption of large amounts of the fruit has been shown to cause a transient reduction in reproductive functioning in female olive baboons, with progestogen-like compounds in the fruit suggested as the probable cause. An aqueous extract of the stem bark has demonstrated a dose-dependent hypotensive effect and hepato-protective activity. Stem bark extracts can inhibit clinical isolates of Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysenteriae, and Escherichia coli, indicating potential value in treating dysentery and other gastroenteritic infections. The fruit is used to improve fertility and treat anaemia, jaundice, leprosy, and dysentery; both dried and fresh fruits are eaten as a treatment for diarrhoea. The root is anodyne; a decoction treats gonorrhoea, ankylostomiasis, rickets, gastro-intestinal disorders, and jaundice. Women drink a root decoction to treat backache. The leaves are anodyne, febrifuge, galactagogue, and tonic. A leaf decoction is taken internally as a tonic and to treat fevers and respiratory diseases, and applied externally to stimulate milk flow and treat headache, stiffness, measles, rash, fever, chickenpox, and hemiplegia. Juice from pounded young tender leaves is squeezed into the eyes to treat conjunctivitis and other eye conditions. A paste of pounded leaves and bark is applied to wounds and burns. Powdered bark dissolved in water treats colic. Bark extracts are used for stomach complaints, kidney troubles, leprosy, liver diseases, and to control bleeding after childbirth.

Known Hazards

The sawdust from the wood has been known to cause dermatitis.

Distribution

It is a tropical plant. It grows in the lowlands and the highlands. It occurs in coastal woodlands in East Africa. It is generally at lower altitudes and can be in savannah. It grows in the Sahel. It requires a high water table. It suits areas with a rainfall between 700-2,000 mm per year. It grows naturally in areas with minimum temperatures of 10°C and maximum of 31°C. It grows from sea level to 1900 m altitude in Tanzania. It tends to be on alluvial soils or near watercourses. It can grow in arid places. It grows in Miombo woodland in Africa.

Where It Grows

Africa*, Angola, Asia, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Chad, Comoros, Congo DR, Congo R, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, East Africa, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sahel, SE Asia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, West Africa, West Indies, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seed. Because several seedlings can grow from each nut and these can be pricked out as separate plants, it is probably best to grow seedlings in a nursery and separate them before planting into the field. To collect seed the fleshy part of the fruit should be removed then the seed soaked in cold water for 24 hours to quicken germination. Germination can be slow. It can take 3 months for seeds to germinate. Seed are best sown fresh but if dry stored for 1 year before planting the germination time is shortened to 1.5-2 months. Plants can be grown from root suckers. Plants can be budded.

Propagation

The seed has a hard coat that slows germination; pre-treatment aims to soften or abrade the coat to allow water uptake. Soak seed in hot water and allow to cool — if no swelling is visible within 12–24 hours, remove the seed and carefully abrade the coat without damaging the seed inside. Forest fires are thought to aid germination in the wild by breaking the hard seedcoat. Treated seed germinates readily and can be raised in a nursery for transplanting or sown in situ. The plant can also be propagated by root suckers or cuttings.

Other Uses

The tree's heavy rounded crown provides good shade. Its nitrogen-fixing roots, combined with leaf fall, help improve soil fertility. The leaves can be used as mulch. The tree shows potential as a pioneer species — in Central Africa it is often among the first to establish when gallery forests develop in low-lying savannah areas. An ink is produced from the dried fruits, young leaves, and bark. A blackish extract obtained by boiling the leaves, bark, roots, and/or fruits is used as both ink and a cloth dye. Twigs are used as chewing sticks for teeth cleaning; aqueous extracts of these chewing sticks have shown strong antibacterial activity against a wide spectrum of bacteria, including those with medical and dental relevance, supporting their traditional use and reported anticaries effect. The dried seeds yield approximately 30% oil, which has high iodine and low saponification values and can be used in skin cream, resin, and paint production. The wood is said to be used as friction sticks to start fires. The heartwood ranges from creamy white to pale, yellowish, or greyish brown, indistinctly demarcated from the 25–60 mm wide sapwood. Grain is straight to wavy or interlocked, and texture is moderately fine to moderately coarse. The wood resembles teak: medium-weight and soft, generally not very durable, though good durability including termite resistance has also been reported. It saws and works easily with hand and machine tools, planes to a silky or furry surface due to interlocked grain, and nails well with little splitting, though it does not always hold nails firmly. Good-quality veneer can be produced, though irregular logs are often unsuitable for rotary peeling. It is frequently too soft for turnery. The wood is used for light building material, furniture, carvings, and boats. It also makes good fuelwood and charcoal.

Production

Plants only grow at a medium rate. Plants can be topped or can regrow from plants which are cut back. It probably takes 5-10 years till first fruit are produced. Fruit take 8-10 months to reach maturity. Fruit ripen April to August in Zambia, January to April in Tanzania and December to June in the Sahel. Fruit are harvested by climbing and shaking the branches.

Other Information

The fruit are especially eaten by children. The kernel or seed inside the hard shell are also eaten by children. The tree is cultivated. Fruit are sold. Fruit tend to be available in the drier more hungry season.

Notes

Also put in the family Verbenaceae.

Nutrition

Synonyms

Also Known As

Aadga, Afua, Akoumanlapka, Andga, Bessapale, Boy, Boye, Bugia, Bu jink, Bukinke, Bume, Cetona-preta, Cetona, Cutobulo, Dhumnia, Dinya, Eelu, Ejiji, Ekarukei, Ekarukei, Elumutuke, Evoula, Ewelu, Filufilu, Fiolongo, Fontchi, Fontin, Galbidje, Galbije, Gnaro, Gorka, Gorogit, Gua, Guvu, Hulugh, Igui o'ri, Juguet, Juwaello, Jwelo, Kalembe, Kiiree, Kimuu, Kokor, Koroba, Mafilu, Mangua, Mbindimbi, Mfilu, Mfiolongo, Mfudu, Mfudwe, Mfula, Mfuru, Mfuu, Mhulu, Mkhulu, Mpindimbi, Mpitimbi, Mpyumbya, Msimpsya, Mtonongoli, mu -Buru, Mucuvu, Mufuru, Mufutu, Muholu, Mukoga, Mulolo, Mumatonmu, Muni, Munsopane, Muri, Mutahuru, N'bumbo, Ngaribi, Nrindimbi, Nzulozulo, Ofon, Omufuto, O'ri, Ori nla, Osha koro, Owelo, Oyelu, Oywelo, Oywelu, Pohon piteka hitam, Prumier-noir, Silanri, Sowarya, Timantounn'ti, Tiwatonn'te, Ubumbo, Ubunvo, Uchakoro, Um tugulgul, Uruziroziro, Vetona-pequeno, Welo, Woro goroki

References (115)

• Abbiw, D.K., 1990, Useful Plants of Ghana. West African uses of wild and cultivated plants. Intermediate Technology Publications and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. p 41
• Achigan-Dako, E, et al (Eds), 2009, Catalogue of Traditional Vegetables in Benin. International Foundation for Science.
• Acipa, A. et al, 2013, Nutritional Profile of some Selected Food Plants of Otwal and Ngai Counties, Oyam District, Northern Uganda. African Journal or Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. 13(2)
• Agea, J. G., et al 2011, Wild and Semi-wild Food Plants of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom of Uganda: etc. Environmental Research Journal 5(2) 74-86
• Alyegba, S. S. et al, 2013, Ethnobotanical Survey of Edible Wild Plants in Tiv Communities of Benue State, Nigeria. Journal of Natural Sciences Research. Vol.3, No.7, 2013

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