Combretum padoides (PROTA)
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Introduction |
| General importance |  
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| Geographic coverage Africa |
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| Geographic coverage World |
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| Vegetable |
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| Carbohydrate / starch |
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| Medicinal |
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| Timber |
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| Fuel |
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| Auxiliary plant |
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| Food security |
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Combretum padoides Engl. & Diels
- Protologue: Engl., Monogr. afrik. Pflanzen-Fam. 3: 13, t. 2B (1899).
- Family: Combretaceae
- Chromosome number: 2n = 26
Vernacular names
- Thicket bushwillow, thicket combretum (En).
Origin and geographic distribution
Combretum padoides occurs in East and southern African from eastern DR Congo, Kenya and Tanzania south to Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and north-eastern South Africa.
Uses
In Kenya the crushed leaves are applied to snakebites and wounds. A root decoction is taken to treat hookworms. A leaf decoction is taken to treat malaria.
The wood is used to make poles and tool handles, and is also used as fuelwood. Tender leaves are chopped up and cooked alone, with other vegetables or with groundnut paste and eaten with a staple. Combretum padoides is an important bee forage.
Properties
From the leaves of Combretum padoides several triterpenoid desmosides, oleanene-type triterpenoid glycosides and 25(27)-dehydroporiferasterol were isolated. Several of these compounds showed significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Methanolic root and stem bark extracts showed marked inhibition against Gram-positive bacteria, and were also good inhibitors of Enterobacter aerogenes. Methanolic and acetone leaf extracts showed significant antifungal activity in vitro. An acetone extract of the leaves showed moderate anti-inflammatory activity in vitro. A water extract showed low anti-inflammatory activity.
Description
Deciduous shrub or small tree up to 12 m tall or liana; bark silvery-grey, smooth; branchlets short-hairy. Leaves opposite or almost opposite, simple and entire; stipules absent; petiole 3–25 mm long, slender, densely short-hairy to almost glabrous, sometimes sparsely scaly; blade elliptical to oblong-elliptical, (1.5–)3–11.5 cm × (1.5–)3–5.5 cm, apex abruptly acuminate, base narrowly cuneate to rounded, papery, short-hairy on the veins below, scaly below, pinnately veined with 5–8 pairs of lateral veins. Inflorescences a terminal and sometimes axillary spike up to 10 cm long, when axillary resembling a branched panicle. Flowers bisexual, regular, 4-merous, yellow or white, fragrant, sessile, scaly; receptacle consisting of 2 parts, both covered with reddish scales; sepals broadly ovate, c. 1 mm long, scaly, petals narrowly elliptical, 1–2 mm long; stamens 4, free, c. 3 mm long; ovary inferior, 1-celled, style c. 2 mm long. Fruit a 4-winged nut, almost circular in outline or somewhat broader than long, 1.5–2 cm in diameter, covered with reddish or golden scales, with 2–3 mm long stipe and 7–9 mm broad wings, sometimes flushed red, indehiscent, 1-seeded. Seedling with hypogeal germination.
Other botanical information
Combretum is a very large genus, comprising about 250 species and distributed worldwide in the tropics and subtropics. About 140 species occur in tropical Africa; c. 20 species are endemic to Madagascar. Several other Combretum species are medicinally used.
Combretum exalatum
Combretum exalatum Engl. occurs from Somalia south to Tanzania. In Tanzania a root infusion is drunk to treat excessive menstrual bleeding. Leaf paste is rubbed on the skin to treat rheumatism. In Kenya the Kamba people make bows from the wood. In Kenya it is an important browse plant for cattle.
Combretum pentagonum
Combretum pentagonum M.A.Lawson is a climber and occurs from Kenya south to Mozambique and west to Zambia. In Kenya the Giriama people drink a leaf decoction to treat headache. The roots are chewed or boiled with some salt and taken as an aphrodisiac and to treat hernia. A root decoction is drunk to treat hookworm infection. A stem bark decoction is taken as an emetic to treat asthma. Leaf sap and a root decoction are eaten in porridge to treat gonorrhoea. A root decoction is used as a mouth wash to treat bleeding gums and loose teeth. It is externally applied to wounds and used as eye drops to expulse a foreign body. Different extracts showed strong antibacterial activity in vitro.
Combretum xanthothyrsum
Combretum xanthothyrsum Engl. & Diels occurs in Tanzania and Mozambique. In Kenya a root decoction is drunk to treat intestinal worms, venereal diseases, mental illness and as an aphrodisiac.
Ecology
Combretum padoides occurs in riverine, coastal and swamp forests as well as in deciduous thickets, on rocky hills and along escarpments in mixed woodland, from sea-level up to 1800 m altitude.
Propagation and planting
Average seed weight is 30.8 g/1000 seeds.
Harvesting
Leaves of Combretum padoides are harvested from October to December.
Genetic resources
Combretum padoides is locally common and not threatened by genetic erosion.
Prospects
Combretum padoides shows interesting antibacterial and antifungal activities in vitro, and these results merit further research. More information is needed on its biochemistry as well, in order to evaluate its potential.
Major references
- Eloff, J.N., 1999. The antibacterial activity of 27 southern African members of the Combretaceae. South African Journal of Science 95: 148–152.
- Fyhrquist, P., Mwasumbi, L., Haeggstrom, C.A., Vuorela, H., Hitunen, R. & Vuorela, P., 2004. Antifungal activity of selected species of Terminalia, Pteleopsis and Combretum (Combretaceae) collected in Tanzania. Pharmaceutical Biology 42(4/5): 308–317.
- Fyhrquist, P., Mwasumbi, L., Haeggstrom, C.A., Vuorela, H., Hitunen, R. & Vuorela, P., 2002. Ethnobotanical and antimicrobial investigation on some species of Terminalia and Combretum (Combretaceae) growing in Tanzania. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 79(2): 169–177.
- Kokwaro, J.O., 1993. Medicinal plants of East Africa. 2nd Edition. Kenya Literature Bureau, Nairobi, Kenya. 401 pp.
- Ruffo, C.K., Birnie, A. & Tengnäs, B., 2002. Edible wild plants of Tanzania. Technical Handbook No 27. Regional Land Management Unit/ SIDA, Nairobi, Kenya. 766 pp.
Other references
- Beentje, H.J., 1994. Kenya trees, shrubs and lianas. National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya. 722 pp.
- Elegami, A.A., El Nima, E.I., El Tohami, M.S. & Muddathir, A.K., 2002. Antimicrobial activity of some species of the family Combretaceae. Phytotherapy Research 16(6): 555–561.
- Eloff, J.N., Jäger, A.K. & van Staden, J., 2001. The stability and the relationship between anti-inflammatory activity and antibacterial properties of southern African Combretum species. South African Journal of Science 97(7–8): 291–293.
- Masoko, P. & Eloff, J.N., 2006. Bioautography indicates the multiplicity of antifungal compounds from twenty-four southern African Combretum species (Combretaceae). African Journal of Biotechnology 5(18): 1625–1647.
- McGaw, L.J., Rabe, T., Sparg, S.G., Jäger, A.K., Eloff, J.N. & van Staden, J., 2001. An investigation on the biological activity of Combretum species. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 75: 45–50.
- Neuwinger, H.D., 2000. African traditional medicine: a dictionary of plant use and applications. Medpharm Scientific, Stuttgart, Germany. 589 pp.
- Nguta, J.M., Mbaria, J.M., Gakuya, D.W., Gathumbi, P.K. & Kiama, S.G., 2010. Antimalarial herbal remedies of Msambweni, Kenya. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 128(2): 424–432.
- Panzini, I., Pelizzoni, F., Verotta, L. & Rogers, C.B., 1992. The search for the "hiccup nut" toxin: a chemical investigation of Combretum fruit. Planta Medica 58(7): A711–A712.
- Rogers, C.B., 1989. New mono- and bis-desmosidic triterpenoids isolated from Combretum padoides leaves. Journal of Natural Products 52(3): 528–533.
Author(s)
- E.N. Matu, CTMDR/KEMRI, P.O. Box 54840–00200, Nairobi, Kenya
Correct citation of this article
Matu, E.N., 2011. Combretum padoides Engl. & Diels. In: Schmelzer, G.H. & Gurib-Fakim, A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. Accessed 17 December 2024.
- See the Prota4U database.
