NAME: Dacryodes edulis
FAMILY NAME: Burseraceae
COMMON NAMES: Native pear, African plum, Bush butter tree
LOCAL NAMES: Elemi, Ube
MORPHOLOGY: Dacryodes edulis is a medium-sized, evergreen tree attaining a height of 18-40 m. The bole is rather short, slightly fluted, 50-170 cm in diameter and more or less sinuous. The scented, pale grey, rough bark exudes a whitish resin.
USEFUL PART(S): Bark, leaves, fruits, Gum or resin
GENERAL USES: Serves as food
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda, Malaysia
WHY IS IT GREEN: Jiggars, skin diseases, acute malaria, anthelmintics, astringent, wounds, clearing pregnancy stretch marks, elephantiasis.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: The plant is used as an ornamental plant and is known to improve soil quality by providing large quantities of biomass.
FUN FACT: The trees are male, female, or hermaphroditic
FURTHER READING:
Orwa C, A Mutua, Kindt R , Jamnadass R, S Anthony. 2009 Agroforestree Database:a tree reference and selection guide version 4.0 (http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sites/treedbs/treedatabases.asp)
Anegbeh PO, Ladipo DO, Tchoundjeu Z. 2005. Using marcotting technique for fruit development in the African pear Dacryodes Edulis: Scientia Africana. 4(1&2):102-108.
Simons AJ, Leakey RRB. 2004. Tree domestication in tropical agroforestry: Agroforestry Systems. 61:167-181.
Anegbeh PO, Ukafor V, Usoro C, Tchoundjeu Z, Leakey RRB, Schreckenberg K. 2005. Domestication of Dacryodes edulis: 1. phenotypic variation of fruit traits from 100 trees in southeast Nigeria: New Forest. 29(2):149-160
CABI. 2000. Global Forestry Compendium. CD-ROM. CABI
FAO. 1982. Fruit-bearing forest trees: technical notes. FAO-Forestry-Paper. No. 34. 177 pp