Daniellia klainei (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Medicinal
Timber
Fibre
Conservation status

Daniellia klainei Pierre ex A.Chev.

distribution in Africa (wild)

wood in transverse section

Protologue: Bois du Gabon: 172 (1917).

Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae)

Origin and geographic distribution

Daniellia klainei occurs in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, DR Congo and Cabinda (Angola).

Uses

The wood, traded as ‘faro’ together with the wood of other Daniellia spp., is suitable for light construction, light flooring, joinery, interior trim, canoes, furniture, toys, novelties, boxes, crates, agricultural implements, vats, draining boards, turnery, veneer, plywood, hardboard and particle board. Cylindrical boxes are made from the bark of young trees. The resin from the wood yields gum copal. In Gabon the gum is externally applied to treat scabies, ringworm and lice on the head.

Production and international trade

The timber of Daniellia klainei is only used on a local scale.

Properties

The heartwood is pinkish grey to pale yellow-brown, with irregular green-brown markings, and fairly well demarcated from the wide, whitish or pale yellow sapwood. The grain is slightly interlocked, texture moderately coarse. Quarter-sawn surfaces show a nice figure. The wood is scented and has a lustrous surface.

The wood is lightweight to medium-weight, with a density of about 510 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content, moderately soft but tough and strong. It usually air dries well without degrade. In thick boards there might be slight distortion and collapse, but the defects are negligible. Once dry, the wood is stable in service. At 12% moisture content, the modulus of rupture is 65–101 N/mm², compression parallel to grain 31–42 N/mm², cleavage 8.5–13 N/mm and Chalais-Meudon side hardness 1.9–2.8.

The wood saws easily and is easy to work with both hand and machine tools. It planes to a nice finish, but needs careful filling beforehand. It nails and glues well, but is rather difficult to split with tools. It joints well and can be readily peeled into veneer. The steam bending properties are very poor.

The wood is not durable, being susceptible to attacks by fungi, termites, pinhole borers, Lyctus and marine borers. The heartwood is moderately resistant to impregnation, but the sapwood is easier to treat with preservatives.

The wood contains 47% cellulose, 25.5% lignin, 21% pentosan, 1.0% ash and 0.02% silica. The solubility is 4.9% in alcohol-benzene, 3.5% in hot water and 25.6% in a 1% NaOH solution.

The heartwood contains a dark brown, oily, sticky, resinous gum which can be saponified, although it has a low saponification value. One of the main compounds of the gum is the diterpene oleoresin daniellic acid (illurinic acid), as well as ozic acid and the alcohol ozol.

The essential oil distilled from the roots contained as major component myrcene (55%), and as minor components α-humulene (8.1%), germacrene-D (6.1%), α-pinene (5.4%), linalool (4.9%) and β-caryophyllene (3.6%). The oil showed antioxidant and radical scavenging activities, as well as inhibition of lipid peroxidation. It also showed in-vitro antibacterial activity.

Description

• Deciduous, medium-sized tree up to 30 m tall; bole straight and cylindrical, up to 100 cm in diameter, without buttresses; bark surface smooth, greenish grey, with lenticels in horizontals rows, becoming scaly, inner bark thick, hard, fibrous, pinkish brown with fine lines; crown flattened; twigs glabrous.
• Leaves alternate, paripinnately compound with 4–7 pairs of leaflets; stipules up to 8 cm × 1 cm, soon falling; petiole (2–)2.5–4(–9) cm long, rachis 11–20(–30) cm long, shallowly channelled at base, with a pair of glands at insertion of basal pair of leaflets; petiolules 4.5–8 mm long; leaflets opposite, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, up to 22(–38) cm × 7(–9) cm, basal and apical leaflets smaller than middle ones, base rounded, asymmetrical, apex acuminate, margins slightly wavy, papery to leathery, glabrous, with many translucent glandular dots, pinnately veined with 13–29 pairs of lateral veins.
• Inflorescence an axillary or terminal compound raceme 20–31 cm long, glabrous to short-hairy, with 7–9 lateral branches.
• Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic; pedicel (1–)1.5–2(–2.5) mm long, glabrous, enlarging in fruit, near the middle with 2 caducous bracteoles c. 1.5 cm long; sepals 4, oblong-ovate, (1–)1.5–2 cm long, glabrous but margins hairy, with few gland dots on external surface; petals 5, violet, unequal, oblong-ovate to ovate-elliptical, 3 petals 1–1.5 cm long and 2 up to 0.5 cm long, glabrous to short-hairy; stamens 10, 3–4 cm long, 9 united at base and 1 free; ovary superior, lanceolate, 0.5–1 cm long, glabrous but covered with gland dots, with stipe up to 0.5(–1) cm long, style c. 3 cm long.
• Fruit an obliquely oblong, flattened pod (8–)10–12 cm × 4–5 cm, with stipe of c. 1 cm long, glabrous, green becoming brown, dehiscing with 2 woody valves, 1-seeded.
• Seed oblong, flattened, 4–5 cm long, smooth, deep red to brown, attached to one of the valves by a c. 1 cm long funicle.
• Seedling with epigeal germination.

Other botanical information

Daniellia klainei flowers from August to December and fruits from October to February.

Daniellia comprises 10 species, which are nearly all confined to the forest areas of West and Central Africa, with only 1 species extending to Sudan and Uganda. The wood of some other Daniellia spp. is used for similar purposes as that of Daniellia klainei.

Daniellia alsteeniana

Daniellia alsteeniana P.A.Duvign. is a medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall with bole up to 150 cm in diameter, occurring in Gabon, DR Congo, Zambia and Angola, mainly in savanna. In Zambia the wood is used in house building and for canoes, veneer and plywood. It is also used as firewood and for charcoal making. The wood yields gum copal. The inner bark from saplings is made into string.

Daniellia oblonga

Daniellia oblonga Oliv. is poorly known, occurring in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, possibly also in Benin and south-eastern Nigeria. It is a large tree up to 40 m tall with bole up to 150 cm in diameter, and is closely related to Daniellia ogea (Harms) Rolfe ex Holland and often confused with it. The wood is used for boats, canoes and railway sleepers, and is also suitable for boxes, crates and veneer. The wood yields gum copal. Daniellia oblonga is threatened by habitat loss and exploitation, and has been classified as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of threatened species.

Daniellia pynaertii

Daniellia pynaertii De Wild. is a large tree up to 40 m tall with bole up to 240 cm in diameter, occurring in the Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo and DR Congo. The wood is probably used for similar purposes as other Daniellia spp. In DR Congo the inner bark is eaten by men to increase virility. The wood yields gum copal.

Daniellia soyauxii

Daniellia soyauxii (Harms) Rolfe is a fairly large tree up to 35 m tall with bole up to 120 cm in diameter, occurring in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, DR Congo and Cabinda (Angola). Its wood has similar uses as that of other Daniellia spp.

Ecology

Daniellia klainei occurs in evergreen, primary as well as secondary forest, also in gallery forest and swampy localities, from sea-level up to 250(–800) m altitude.

Management

The minimum bole diameter for harvesting is 60 cm in Cameroon and 70 cm in Gabon. Logs should be processed quickly after felling or treated with preservatives because the wood is susceptible to discoloration by blue-stain fungi and to insect attacks.

Genetic resources

Daniellia klainei has a relatively large area of distribution, but has been classified as lower risk/near threatened in the IUCN Red List of threatened species as it is under pressure by habitat loss and exploitation.

Prospects

International demand for sawn wood of Daniellia klainei may remain limited because of the poor durability of the wood, but the straight and cylindrical boles are suitable for rotary peeling for veneer and plywood production.

Major references

• Bolza, E. & Keating, W.G., 1972. African timbers: the properties, uses and characteristics of 700 species. Division of Building Research, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia. 710 pp.

• CIRAD Forestry Department, 2009. Faro. [Internet] Tropix 6.0. http://tropix.cirad.fr/africa/faro.pdf. January 2012.

• de la Estrella, M., Aedo, C., Mackinder, B. & Velayos, M., 2010. Taxonomic revision of Daniellia (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae). Systematic Botany 35(2): 296–324.

• Koudou, J., Obame, L.-C., Edou, P., Bassolé, Eba, F., Figueredo, G., Traoré, A.S. & Chalchat, J.-C., 2008. Volatile constituents, antioxidant and antibacterial properties of Daniellia klainei Pierre ex A.Chev. essential oil. Scientific Research and Essay 3(7): 316–319.

• Takahashi, A., 1978. Compilation of data on the mechanical properties of foreign woods (part 3) Africa. Shimane University, Matsue, Japan. 248 pp.

Other references

• Burkill, H.M., 1995. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 3, Families J–L. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 857 pp.

• Chilufya, H. & Tengnäs, B., 1996. Agroforestry extension manual for northern Zambia. Regional Soil Conservation Unit, Nairobi, Kenya. 120 + 124 pp.

• Gérard, J., Edi Kouassi, A., Daigremont, C., Détienne, P., Fouquet, D. & Vernay, M., 1998. Synthèse sur les caractéristiques technologiques des principaux bois commerciaux africains. Document Forafri 11. Cirad, Montpellier, France. 185 pp.

• Ngavoura, P., 1990. Fiabilité de la médecine traditionnelle dans le monde moderne - “Contribution du forestier”. Mémoire de fin de cycle, Ecole nationale des eaux et forêts (ENEF), Cap-Estérias, Gabon. 115 pp.

• Onanga, M., Ekouya, A., Ouabonzi, A. & Itoua, G.B., 1999. Ethnobotanical, pharmacological and chemical studies of plants used in the treatment of ‘Mwandza’ dermatites. Fitoterapia 70: 579–585.

• Raponda-Walker, A. & Sillans, R., 1961. Les plantes utiles du Gabon. Paul Lechevalier, Paris, France. 614 pp.

• Savard, J., Besson, A. & Morize, S., 1954. Analyse chimique des bois tropicaux. Publication No 5, Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 191 pp.

• Vivien, J. & Faure, J.J., 1985. Arbres des forêts denses d’Afrique Centrale. Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique, Paris, France. 565 pp.

• Wilczek, R., Léonard, J., Hauman, L., Hoyle, A.C., Steyaert, R., Gilbert, G. & Boutique, R., 1952. Caesalpiniaceae. In: Robyns, W., Staner, P., Demaret, F., Germain, R., Gilbert, G., Hauman, L., Homès, M., Jurion, F., Lebrun, J., Vanden Abeele, M. & Boutique, R. (Editors). Flore du Congo belge et du Ruanda-Urundi. Spermatophytes. Volume 3. Institut National pour l’Étude Agronomique du Congo belge, Brussels, Belgium. pp. 234–554.

Author(s)

• G.H. Schmelzer, PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article

Schmelzer, G.H., 2012. Daniellia klainei Pierre ex A.Chev. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Louppe, D. & Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands.

Accessed 18 December 2024.

• See the Prota4U database.