Ricinodendron heudelotii (Baill.) pierre ex Heckel

Protologue Ann. Inst. Bot.-Géol. Colon. Marseille 5(2): 40 (1898). show more data (7)comments (0) Family Euphorbiaceae show more data (16)comments (0) Chromosome number 2n = 22 show more data (0)comments (0) Synonyms Ricinodendron africanum Müll.Arg. (1864). show more data (31)comments (0) Vernacular names Groundnut tree, corkwood tree, African oil-nut tree (En). Essang, essessang (Fr). Menguela, munguella (Po). Muawa (Sw). show more data (9)comments (0) Origin and geographic distribution Ricinodendron heudelotii occurs from southern Senegal eastwards to Kenya, and southwards to Angola and Mozambique. show more data (35)comments (0) Uses The seeds of Ricinodendron heudelotii are widely used in cooking in West and Central Africa. An edible oil is extracted from the seeds and a paste made by crushing dried kernels is sometimes used as a thickening agent for soups and stews. A paste from the dried and pounded kernels is also stored for making porridge in times of food shortage. The protein-rich leaves are eaten as a cooked vegetable with dried fish and are used as forage for goats and sheep.The wood, called ‘erimado’ or ‘essessang’ in trade, is very light, soft and perishable, but is occasionally used in carving and for making household utensils, furniture, boxes and crates. In Uganda the Semliki and Unyoro people use it for making doors for their huts, while in southern Nigeria and DR Congo well-sounding drums are carved from it. It is a potential substitute for balsa wood (Ochroma pyramidale (Cav. ex Lam.) Urb.) for making floats and lifebelts. The wood is also suitable for boat building, sporting goods, toys and novelties, hardboard, particle board, plywood, wood-wool and wood-pulp. The ash of the wood is used as vegetable salt in cooking, indigo dyeing and soap making. The seeds are used in rattles and as counters in games. In Bas Congo (DR Congo) the tree is planted to attract edible caterpillars (Imbrasia epimethea), and several other edible caterpillars are collected from it. The leaves are used as wrapping material and for mulching. In DR Congo Ricinodendron heudelotii is planted as amenity tree, as live fence and for erosion control.Many parts of the tree are used in medicine. Bark of the root and stem is used in decoctions or lotions to treat constipation, cough, dysentery, rheumatism, rickets in children, oedema, elephantiasis, fungal infection, blennorrhoea, painful menstruation, and to prevent miscarriage, relieve pain in pregnant women, cure infertility in women, give strength to premature babies, and to mature abscesses, furuncles and buboes. The sap is instilled into the eye against filaria and ophthalmia and leaf decoctions are used as febrifuge. Leaves are also used to treat dysentery, female sterility, oedema and stomach pain. Roots are used as aphrodisiac in Côte d’Ivoire. Fruits and latex are used in West Africa to cure gonorrhoea and diarrhoea.

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