Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
CHLOROPHORA EXCELSA
Botanical Name —
Chlorophora excelsa
(Welw.) Benth. & Hook.
Synonyms —
Maclura excelsa
(Welw.) Bur.,
Chlorophora tenuifolia
Engl.,
Chlorophora alba
C hev.
Family —
Moraceae
Common Names —
Iroko, African oak
African Names —
Bini: iroko; Hausa: ioko; Igbo: orjih; Kisi: kemo; Lunda: sanga; Runqwa:
mwala; Yoruba: rook; Zinza: msule.
Description —
The iroko tree is a large, tall tree, growing to more than 60 m high and exceed-
ing 2.5 m in diameter; the bole is straight and cylindrical with about 25 m clear of branches. The
trunk is gray to dark brown or blackish, smooth at first, later rough and flaking, seldom fissured,
with slash cream with brown spots exuding a copious white latex. It is sometimes deciduous, dioe-
cious (rarely monoecious) with short buttresses, blunt, and sometimes with rootspurs and large
exposed reddish-brown lateral roots with horizontal lenticels. The branches are ascending, form-
ing a flat crown that graces the forest canopy it occupies. The foliage is dark green and dense. The
leaves are simple, with alternate petiole 2.5-6 cm long, stipules 0.5-5 cm long; the blade is broadly
elliptic, 10-25 cm long, 5-15 cm wide, with an apex rounded with a very short acuminate tip, a
base unequally cordate or sometimes rounded, margins entire, and thick glabrous above and below
except for minute hairs between the network of veins; lateral veins are 10-22 pairs, up-curving
near the margin, prominent, and looped below. The leaves of the seedlings and saplings are slightly
different in shape, appearing oblong-elliptic, with serrate margins and densely hirsute below.
33
It
produces greenish flowers with protruding styles. The fruits are borne on subcylindrical, wrinkled
syncarp, 4-7.5 cm in diameter and fleshy.9
9
Habitat and Distribution —
The plant is a prized inhabitant of the rainforest belt, and some-
times in deciduous, semi-deciduous, or evergreen forests, often in gallery forests, and sometimes
in isolated relic forests. The plant grows better in well-drained soils and is intolerant of impeded
drainage. Its very tall size is partly due to its high light demand, and it must grow above the dense
forest setting to survive. The plant is widespread in tropical Africa, occurring in Senegal, Sierra
Leone, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
Ethnomedicinal Uses —
The leaf extract and the embrocation prepared with it are used in West
Africa as fungicides and as a tropical antibacterial agent. In Ghana, parts of the plant are used for the
preparation of cough remedies, especially for bronchitis. The stem bark is an ingredient in a mixture
used in a hip bath for venereal sores and as a wash for chancre.
6
The ashes from the bark with palm oil
are rubbed on swelling in Liberia. In southern Zaire, the latex is used to reduce tumors and obstruc-
tions of the throat and for stomach diseases,
273
and the bark infusion is used as a purgative. The latex,
infusion of the bark, and soups prepared with the leaves have been administered to aid lactation.
198
The leaf decoction has been used in Sierra Leone as a wash for fevers.
6
It is also applied as an enema
for the cure of piles, diarrhea, and dysentery. The pounded bark mixed with the kernel of
Okoubaka
aubrevillei
fruit is dispensed as an alcoholic extract for the treatment of hemorrhoids.
The species has been listed as an ingredient for the preparation of a remedy for leprosy, car-
diac diseases, lumbago, and general fatigue and is taken orally or in a sitz bath for the treatment of
elephantiasis of the scrotum.
33
The roots are employed in northern Nigeria as a remedy for rheuma-
tism.
419
Among the Igbo of southern Nigeria, the plant is considered sacred and is featured in rituals
and ceremonies.
Constituents —
The plant is believed to contain a high quantity of calcium salts in the wood, of
which calcium carbonate is the dominant compound.
420
A phenolic substance called chlorophorin
has been shown to be present in the plant.
199
Pharmacological Studies —
The plant extract has been found active against the wood termite
Reticuli termis
.
421
The phenolic compounds found in the plant are fungicidal. The latex has been
used as an oral application to aid in the extraction of carious teeth.
422
Chlorophorin and Iroko
