NAME: Casearia barteri
FAMILY: Samydaceae
COMMON NAMES: nzema punum, akpanọ-ẹzẹ
LOCAL NAMES: Ukpakuzon
MORPHORLOGICAL DESCRIPTION:
A shrub or tree plant growing to about 20 -40 m in height and mostly found in swamp forest
USEFUL PART(s): Stem, twig, bark
GENERAL USES:
Stem are used as chew-sticks
Fruits are used as a fish poison
Leaves are used in preparing Burundi decoctions which are drunk against fever and madness
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION:
Nigeria, Sudan, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone
WHY IS IT GREEN?
Toothache
Oral hygiene
Fever
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
It's habitat provides shelter for endangered and threatened species like alligator.
FUN FACT
It's mostly found in rainforest, swampy, flooded, half deciduous and secondary forests
FURTHER READINGS
Breteler, F.J., 2008. A synopsis of Casearia Jacq. (Samydeae – Salicaceae) in West and Central Africa with a description of a new species from Eastern Congo (Kinshasa). Kew Bulletin 63: 101–112.
http://congotrees.rbge.org.uk/species/details/casearia-barteri
https://plants.jstor.org/compilation/casearia.barteri