Discoclaoxylon hexandrum (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Medicinal
Ornamental

Discoclaoxylon hexandrum (Müll.Arg.) Pax & K.Hoffm.

Protologue: Engl., Pflanzenr. IV 147 VII: 137 (1914).

Family: Euphorbiaceae

• Claoxylon hexandrum Müll.Arg. (1864).

Discoclaoxylon hexandrum occurs from Sierra Leone east to Ghana and from Nigeria east to Uganda and south to DR Congo.

In Ghana a decoction of the leafy twigs is taken as a purgative. Children play with the bright red seeds.

Small, dioecious, sparingly branched small tree up to 6(–10) m tall; bark grey; young shoots and petioles sparingly short-hairy, later almost glabrous, yellowish grey-green. Leaves alternate, simple; stipules tiny, soon falling; petiole (5–)8–17(–20) cm long, purplish; blade elliptical-oblong, 20–35 cm × 10–15 cm, base rounded to cuneate, apex acute to obtuse, margins toothed, firmly papery to leathery, almost glabrous, but short-hairy on main veins, purplish, later dark and glossy green. Inflorescence an axillary raceme up to 30(–50) cm long; bracts c. 1.5 mm long, acuminate, densely hairy. Flowers unisexual, petals absent; male flowers with jointed pedicel 3–4(–7) mm long; sepals 4, broadly triangular-ovate, c. 1.5 mm long, densely short-hairy outside, glabrous inside, pale green, disk shallowly lobed, c. 1.5 mm in diameter, papillose, stamens 6–7(–9), filaments c. 0.5 mm long, free; female flowers almost sessile, pedicel extending to 2 mm in fruit, basally jointed, calyx lobes 4, ovate, 1–1.5 mm long, united at base, densely woolly hairy outside, grey-green, disk glands 2, broadly triangular, c. 1 mm × 1.5 mm, ovary superior, 2-lobed, c. 1.5 mm in diameter, densely woolly hairy, 2-celled, styles 2, c. 0.5 mm long, free, feathery-hairy. Fruit a 2-lobed capsule c. 5 mm × 10 mm, lobes almost globular, densely yellowish grey-green woolly hairy, 2-seeded. Seeds almost globose, 3.5–4 mm in diameter, smooth, blackish, with a yellow, fleshy pseudoaril.

Discoclaoxylon comprises 4 species, which all occur in tropical Africa. Discoclaoxylon hexandrum is the only species with a relatively widespread distribution; the other 3 species are endemic to different islands in the Gulf of Guinea. How distinct they are from one another requires further study. Some authors include Discoclaoxylon in Claoxylon.

Discoclaoxylon hexandrum occurs in the understorey of secondary forest, often near paths, from sea-level up to 1200 m altitude.

Discoclaoxylon hexandrum occurs in secondary vegetation and does not seem to be threatened by genetic erosion.

Discoclaoxylon hexandrum will probably remain of limited local importance as a medicinal plant.

• Burkill, H.M., 1994. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 2, Families E–I. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 636 pp.

• Irvine, F.R., 1961. Woody plants of Ghana, with special reference to their uses. Oxford University Press, London, United Kingdom. 868 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.

• Abbiw, D.K., 1990. Useful plants of Ghana: West African uses of wild and cultivated plants. Intermediate Technology Publications, London and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 337 pp.

• Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A., 2000. World checklist and bibliography of Euphorbiaceae (with Pandaceae). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 1620 pp.

• Keay, R.W.J., 1958. Euphorbiaceae. 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. 364–423.

• Keay, R.W.J., 1989. Trees of Nigeria. A revised version of Nigerian trees (1960, 1964) by R.W.J. Keay, C.F.A. Onochie and D.P. Stanfield. Clarendon Press, Oxford, United Kingdom. 476 pp.

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

Schmelzer, G.H., 2008. Discoclaoxylon hexandrum (Müll.Arg.) Pax & K.Hoffm. In: Schmelzer, G.H. & Gurib-Fakim, A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. Accessed 3 April 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.