Cordia africana

Cordia africana or Sudan teak is a mid-sized, white-flowered, evergreen tree in the family Cordiaceae, native to Africa. It produces edible fruit, and its wood is used for drums or other carpentry.

Description

A large tree. It looses its leaves during the year. The crown is rounded. The trunk is often crooked. It grows 15 m high. The bark is pale brown and rough. It becomes cracked with age. The leaves are large and oval. They can be 16 cm long. They taper towards the tip. The base is rounded. The leaves are dark green above and paler underneath. The young shoots and underneath the leaves are covered with soft brown hairs. The flowers are white. They are funnel shaped. The occur in large numbers near the ends of branches. The flowers have a sweet scent. The fruit are round and 1 cm across. They are yellow. They are in a hairy cup. The seeds are in sweet sticky flesh. The fruit is edible. They contain about 6 seeds.

Edible Uses

Cordia africana has been used in the manufacture of drums. The Akan Drum which is now in the British Museum was identified as being of African manufacture because it was found to be made from this tree. It is also sometime called Sudan Teak and has been used for flooring, high-quality furniture, window making, interior decking. The wood can be used to manufacture beehives which can be kept in this tree where the bees can live off the plentiful supply of nectar which comes from the flowers. In addition the tree supplies leaves for forage and an edible fruit. In Ethiopia, where the tree is known in Amharic as wanza, the hearth of a fire-stick was traditionally made therefrom for lighting fires.

Traditional Uses

The ripe fruit has a sweet edible pulp and are eaten raw. It is used for drinks and sweets. The fruit are also dried. The seeds are eaten fresh. The kernel of the nut is used to make an alcoholic drink. Caution: Alcohol is a cause of cancer.

Medicinal Uses

The wood-ash, mixed with butter, is applied to certain skin-troubles. Leaf decoctions are administered to treat headache, nose bleeding, dizziness and vomiting during pregnancy, and worms. The leaves are dried and powdered to sprinkle over wounds. A root-decoction is drunk as a treatment for jaundice and schistosomiasis. The fresh, juicy bark is used to tie a broken bone; this splint is changed occasionally with a fresh one until the bone is healed. A stimulating tonic, used to treat fatigue and exhaustion while on a journey, is prepared from the bark and fruits along with the stems of Abelmoschus esculentus. Fresh bark is applied to fractures and bark extracts and is also taken against fatigue.

Distribution

A tropical plant. It grows in wooded grassland and forest. It grows between 1,200-2,100 m altitude in East Africa. It cannot tolerate frost. It can grow in arid places.

Where It Grows

Africa, Angola, Arabia, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa, Congo, East Africa, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Hawaii, Kenya, Malawi, Middle East, Mozambique, Nigeria, North Africa, Pacific, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Southern Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, USA, West Africa, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seed. It can be cut back and will re-grow.

Propagation

Seed - can be stored for up to 12 months. Sow the seed in a nursery seedbed in full sun or light shade. A germination rate of about 65% can be expected, with the seeds starting to sprout after about 2 weeks, and most of them sprouting after 3 weeks. The young plants can be transplanted to their permanent positions about 4 - 6 months later.

Other Uses

The twigs are used as fire-sticks. The heartwood is pinkish brown to reddish brown; it is fairly distinctly demarcated from the 25 - 40mm wide band of greyish sapwood. The grain is usually interlocked; texture medium to coarse but even; the wood is lustrous. It is moderately light in weight, hard according to some reports or moderately soft according to others, moderately durable, being moderately susceptible to termite and pinhole borer attacks. The wood works well with both machine and hand tools; it planes and moulds to a nice surface; polishes well when a filler is used; it holds nails and screws well and has good gluing properties; the peeling and slicing characteristics are satisfactory. It is suitable for carpentry, cabinet making, light construction, ship building, vehicle bodies, toys, novelties, vats, draining boards, food containers, matches, veneer, plywood, hardboard, particle board and pulp for paper making. Traditionally, it is used to make canoes, drums, bee-hives, grain mortars, water containers, utensils, tool handles etc. The wood is valued as a fuel. The tree is an early colonizer in forest regrowth and has a wide range of uses. Although quite slow growing, it has good potential for use as a pioneer species when re-establishing woodland. It is often left when forests are cleared for cultivation, as the tree is an excellent shade tree for crops. The tree is often found in cropland, where it is grown to provide shade[, 332.392]. In northern Tanzania it is favoured as a shade tree for coffee because of its short bole. It provides very good mulch and can be used in other mixed cropping systems on cropland, pastureland, or rangeland to improve microclimatic conditions. Leaf fall in the dry season is heavy, and the leaves make good mulch. The sweetly scented flowers yield plenty of nectar and are very attractive to honey bees. They are known for their high quality honey production.

Production

It grows quickly. Fruit are produced during the dry season.

Other Information

The fruit are eaten especially by children. Fruit are sold in local markets. It is cultivated.

Notes

There are about 320 Cordia species.

Synonyms

Also Known As

Aluluba, Banja, Dampaey, Dapee, Galmi, Gambil, Gimbil, Koffe, Lbolinga, Makobokobo, Mbwabwa, Mearera, Meqota, Mfumbang-oma, Mkulukulu, Mpefu, Mringaringa, Mtondo, Mukebu, Mukumari, Muringa, Nabukwe, Ngongoza, Nkungwa, Ntuthu, Otaya, Otayita, Ottayta, Urogu, Waaddiicho, Wadessa, Wanza, Wdecha, Wodessa

References (57)

• 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 46
• Addis, G., et al, 2005, Ethnobotanical Study of Edible Wild Plants in Some Selected Districts of Ethiopia. Human Ecology, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 83-118
• Addis, G., Asfaw, Z & Woldu, Z., 2013, Ethnobotany of Wild and Semi-wild Edible Plants of Konso Ethnic Community, South Ethiopia. Ethnobotany Research and Applications. 11:121-141
• Addis, G., et al, 2013, The Role of Wild and Semi-wild Edible Plants in Household Food Sovereignty in Hamer and Konso Communities, South Ethiopia. Ethnobotany Research & Applications. 11:251-271
• Alemneh, D., 2020, Ethnobotany of wild edible plants in Yilmana Densa and Quarit Districts of West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Ethnobotany Research & Applications. 20:47

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