Sarcocephalus latifolius (Bekele-Tesemma, 2007)

← Sapium ellipticum

Bekele-Tesemma, Useful trees and shrubs for Ethiopia, 2007 Sarcocephalus latifolius (Bekele-Tesemma, 2007)

Schefflera abyssinica →

Sarcocephalus latifolius Rubiaceae Scanty info Indigenous

Common names

• Agnuakgna: Mogno
• Mejengrgna: Kow

Ecology

Growing in Dry Moist Bereha and in Dry, Wet and Moist Kolla agroclimatic zones of Gambella, Gojam, Ilubabor and Kefa, 300- 1,400 m, annual rainfall 600-2,000 mm.

Use

The wood from branches is used for knife handles and fuelwood. The bark, leaves and roots are boiled in water and used to treat back pain. The fruit is edible. Bees feed on the flowers.

Description

It is a shrub to small tree that grows to a height of 7 metres. Stem grayish in colour.

• LEAVES shiny green above, pale green underneath, 6 - 17 cm in length and 4-12 cm in width; leaf petiole up to 2.5 cm, reddish in colour and about 3cm in length, margin simple, leaves curved towards inside, midrib coarse from outer side and flat from inside.
• FLOWER: Flowering nodes 3 – 5 cm in diameter, corolla whitish to pinkish.
• FRUIT: edible, 3 -8 cm in diameter, fruiting in February; seeds many.

Propagation

Seedlings, Wildings.

Seed

• Treatment : Need to macerate the fruit.
• Storage: Seeds can be stored for weeks.

Remarks

Wood susceptible to termite attack. Flowering in January.