Cleistanthus caudatus (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Timber
Conservation status

Cleistanthus caudatus Pax

distribution in Africa (wild)

Protologue: De Wild. & T.Durand, Ann. Mus. Congo, Bot., sér. 2, 1: 49 (1899).

Family: Euphorbiaceae (APG: Phyllanthaceae)

Synonyms

• Cleistanthus mildbraedii Jabl. (1915),
• Cleistanthus michelsonii J.Léonard (1955).

Origin and geographic distribution

Cleistanthus caudatus occurs from Cameroon east to the Central African Republic and south to Gabon and DR Congo.

Uses

The wood is used in carpentry and joinery. It is suitable for heavy construction, heavy flooring, interior trim, mine props, ship building, hydraulic works, vehicle bodies, railway sleepers, toys, novelties and agricultural implements.

Properties

The heartwood is dark red-brown, often with a purple tinge, and distinctly demarcated from the pale pinkish brown, up to 5 cm wide sapwood. The grain is straight, texture fine and even. Quarter-sawn surfaces show a slight figure of darker streaks and paler silver grain. A reddish resinous substance is often present in the wood.

The wood is heavy, with a density of 920–1080 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content, hard and very strong. The rates of shrinkage during drying are high, from green to oven dry about 4.3% radial and 9.8% tangential. It is recommended to quarter-saw logs before drying to avoid excessive splitting. After drying, the wood is moderately stable to unstable in service. At 15% moisture content, the modulus of rupture is 178–230 N/mm², compression parallel to grain 69–86 N/mm², cleavage 26 N/mm and Chalais-Meudon side hardness 11.1.

The wood saws slowly and is rather difficult to plane due to its hardness and abrasiveness, but it can be finished to a nice surface. It holds nails and screws well, but pre-boring is needed. The wood is durable, being resistant to fungal attacks, but it has been reported to be slightly susceptible to insect attacks. It is very resistant to impregnation with preservatives.

Description

• Shrub or small to fairly large tree up to 35(–40) m tall; bole branchless for up to 20 m, usually straight and cylindrical, up to 90(–150) cm in diameter, usually without buttresses; bark surface flaky with elongate scales, greyish brown, inner bark fibrous, pink to red, with a reddish or whitish exudate; crown rounded, large; twigs hairy, but soon becoming glabrous.
• Leaves alternate, simple and entire; stipules c. 1 cm long, early caducous; petiole up to 1 cm long; blade ovate to elliptical or oblong, 3.5–22 cm × 1.5–10 cm, base cuneate to slightly cordate, apex long-acuminate, glabrous to slightly hairy below, pinnately veined with up to 8 pairs of lateral veins.
• Inflorescence an axillary raceme up to 20 cm long, glabrous or slightly hairy, with small bracts or small caducous leaves.
• Flowers unisexual, regular, (4–)5(–6)-merous, greenish or reddish; pedicel up to 1(–1.5) cm long; sepals oblong-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 4–9 mm long, glabrous; petals linear, 1–4 mm long; disk annular; male flowers slightly smaller than female ones, with 5(–6) stamens fused at base into a column of 2–4 mm long, ovary rudimentary; female flowers with superior, rounded ovary, glabrous or slightly hairy, (2–)3(–4)-celled, styles (2–)3(–4), 2–4 mm long, 2-branched.
• Fruit a (2–)3(–4)-celled, nearly globose capsule 1.5–3 cm in diameter, reticulately veined, splitting into 2-valved, (1–)2-seeded segments, with central column persistent.
• Seeds c. 1 cm long, brownish, shiny.
• Seedling with epigeal germination; hypocotyl 6.5–10 cm long; cotyledons leafy, broadly ovate, c. 3 cm long; first leaves alternate.

Other botanical information

Cleistanthus occurs throughout the tropics of Asia, Australia and Africa, and comprises about 150 species. About 20 species occur in mainland tropical Africa, mainly in Central Africa, and about 6 in Madagascar. Studies of leaf anatomy and pollen, as well as a phylogenetic study using DNA sequence data, showed that Cleistanthus is heterogeneous; a critical review of the genus is needed.

Cleistanthus schlechteri

Cleistanthus schlechteri (Pax) Hutch. is a shrub or small to medium-sized tree up to 20 m tall, with bole up to 40 cm in diameter. It occurs in mixed deciduous forest, woodland and thickets from Kenya south to northern South Africa. Its dark brown and hard wood is used in construction for posts, beams and roof laths, and for railway sleepers and walking sticks. In South Africa powdered bark is applied to burns.

Ecology

Cleistanthus caudatus occurs in lowland primary evergreen or semi-deciduous rainforest and riverine forest, also in swampy or periodically flooded forest, up to 700 m altitude.

Management

Cleistanthus caudatus is locally common in the forest. Logs should be converted soon after felling to avoid checking; quarter-cutting is recommended. A log of 13 m long and 76 cm in diameter yielded 5.3 m³ of wood.

Genetic resources

Cleistanthus caudatus is fairly widespread and locally common. Although it is unknown to what extent it is exploited, there are no indications that it is subject to genetic erosion at present.

Prospects

The wood of Cleistanthus caudatus and other Cleistanthus spp. is likely to remain of limited importance, mainly for local construction because of its durability. The growth rates are probably low, as reported for Cleistanthus schlechteri with an average annual bole diameter growth of little more than 1 mm.

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.

• Breteler, F.J., in press. Novitates Gabonensis 78. Deux espèces nouvelles du Gabon dans les Bridelieae (Phyllanthaceae, autrefois Euphorbiaceae). Adansonia, sér. 3.

• Fouarge, J., Gérard, G. & Sacré, E., 1953. Bois du Congo. Institut National pour l’Etude Agronomique du Congo belge (INEAC), Brussels, Belgium. 424 pp.

• Léonard, J., 1962. Euphorbiaceae. 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 8, 1. Institut National pour l’Étude Agronomique du Congo belge, Brussels, Belgium. 214 pp.

• Tailfer, Y., 1989. La forêt dense d’Afrique centrale. Identification pratique des principaux arbres. Tome 2. CTA, Wageningen, Pays Bas. pp. 465–1271.

Other references

• Coates Palgrave, K., 1983. Trees of southern Africa. 2nd Edition. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. 959 pp.

• Gaugris, J.Y., van Rooyen, M.W. & Bothma, J. du P., 2008. Growth rate of selected woody species in northern Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 74(1): 85–92.

• Gaugris, J.Y., van Rooyen, M.W., Bothma, J. du P. & van der Linde, M.J., 2007. Hard wood utilization in buildings of rural households of the Manquakulane community, Maputaland, South Africa. Ethnobotany Research & Applications 5: 97–114.

• Grace, O.M., Prendergast, H.D.V., Jäger, A.K. & van Staden, J., 2002. Bark medicines in traditional healthcare in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: an inventory. South African Journal of Botany 69(3): 301–363.

• Kathriarachchi, H., Hoffmann, P., Samuel, R., Wurdack, K.J. & Chase, M.W., 2005. Molecular phylogenetics of Phyllanthaceae inferred from five genes (plastid atpB, matK, 3’ndhF, rbcL, and nuclear PHYC). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 36: 112–134.

• Léonard, J., 1955. Notulae systematicae 18. Euphorbiaceae Africanae novae. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de l’Etat (Bruxelles) 25(4): 281–301.

• Léonard, J., 1960. Notulae systematicae XXIX. Révision des Cleistanthus d’Afrique continentale (Euphorbiacées). Bulletin du Jardin botanique de l’Etat (Bruxelles) 30: 421–461.

• Neuwinger, H.D., 2000. African traditional medicine: a dictionary of plant use and applications. Medpharm Scientific, Stuttgart, Germany. 589 pp.

• Radcliffe-Smith, A., 1987. Euphorbiaceae (part 1). In: Polhill, R.M. (Editor). Flora of Tropical East Africa. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands. 407 pp.

• Radcliffe-Smith, A., 1996. Euphorbiaceae, subfamilies Phyllantoideae, Oldfieldioideae, Acalyphoideae, Crotonoideae and Euphorbioideae, tribe Hippomaneae. In: Pope, G.V. (Editor). Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 9, part 4. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. pp. 1–337.

Author(s)

• L.P.A. Oyen, PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article

Oyen, L.P.A., 2011. Cleistanthus caudatus Pax. [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 4 April 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.