Salacia mannii (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Fibre

Salacia mannii Oliv.

Protologue: Fl. trop. Afr. 1: 376 (1868).

Family: Celastraceae (Hippocrateaceae)

Synonyms

• Salacia soyauxii Loes. (1894).

Origin and geographic distribution

Salacia mannii is distributed from Nigeria eastwards through Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to DR Congo. It has not been recorded in Congo.

Uses

The stems of Salacia mannii are extremely strong and in DR Congo they are made into snares to trap elephants. Many Salacia species produce edible fruits but for this specific species this has not been confirmed.

Botany

Shrubby bush, sometimes scandent, up to 6 m tall or woody liana up to 15 m tall; bark warty, lenticellate; twigs green becoming reddish brown. Leaves opposite or subopposite, simple; stipules absent; petiole 3–10 mm long; blade elliptical, 8–23 cm × 2.5–9 cm, rounded to obtuse at base, acuminate at tip, margin entire or slightly dentate, deep green and glossy above, paler beneath, with 5–8 pairs of secondary veins. Inflorescence an axillary glomerule with up to 10 flowers. Flowers bisexual, yellow to whitish, 5–10 mm in diameter; pedicel 5–24 mm long; calyx 5-lobed, lobes unequal, up to 2.5 mm wide; petals 5, cream, free, 2–5 mm × 1.5–2 mm; stamens 3, yellow, 0.5–1.5 mm long; ovary 3-celled, yellow, style weakly 3-lobed, very short. Fruit ovoid to elliptical, 4–7 cm × 2.5–3.5 cm, with base and tip attenuate, orange-red when ripe, 2–6-seeded. Seeds 10–22 mm long.

Salacia comprises 180–200 species distributed throughout the tropics, with c. 30 species in America and c. 90 in Africa. The forests of Cameroon and Gabon house around 60 species and Madagascar only 2.

Ecology

Salacia mannii occurs in forest and gallery forest from sea-level up to 900 m altitude.

Genetic resources

There are no known germplasm collections of the species and there is no apparent threat for Salacia mannii.

Prospects

As a plant resource Salacia mannii will not play an important role in future unless new utilisations are discovered.

Major references

• Hallé, N., 1990. Celastraceae (Hippocrateoideae). Flore du Cameroun. Volume 32. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. 247 pp.

• Wilczek, R., 1960. Hippocrateaceae. 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 9. Institut National pour l’Étude Agronomique du Congo belge, Brussels, Belgium. pp. 133–232.

Other references

• Hallé, N., 1962. Monographie des Hippocratéacées d'Afrique occidentale. Mémoires de l' Institut Francais d'Afrique Noire 64: 1–245.

• Keay, R.W.J. & Blakelock, R.A., 1958. Celastraceae. In: Keay, R.W.J. (Editor). Flora of West Tropical Africa. Volume 1, part 2. 2nd Edition. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom. pp. 623–634.

• Lebrun, J.P. & Stork, A.L., 2010. Tropical flowering plants; ecology and distribution. Volume 5: Buxaceae-Simaroubaceae. Editions des Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la ville de Genève, Switzerland. 415 pp.

Author(s)

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

Correct citation of this article

Bosch, C.H., 2011. Salacia mannii Oliv. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Brink, M. & Achigan-Dako, E.G. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>.

Accessed 31 March 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.