Bureaucrat, administrator, widgeteditor
146,870
edits
Changes
→Botany
Liana up to 15 m long, cylindrical, glabrous, with many pale lenticels. Leaves alternate, simple and entire; stipules absent; petiole 1–4 cm long; blade broadly ovate to elliptical, up to 14 cm × 8 cm, base obtuse, apex emarginate or mucronate, pilose on both surfaces. Inflorescence an axillary cyme, 5–10-flowered; peduncle short. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous; pedicel up to 1 cm long; sepals 5–6 mm long at flowering, external sepals densely hairy outside, internal sepals hairy only along central vein; corolla funnel-shaped, 1.8–2.5 cm long, white, short soft hairy outside, limb with triangular lobes; stamens glabrous, inserted at base of corolla tube; ovary superior, glabrous, 2-celled, style glabrous, stigma 2-lobed. Fruit a conical capsule c. 1.1 cm long, indehiscent, 1-seeded, enclosed in 2 enlarged unequal outer sepals, c. 2 and 6 cm in diameter.
''Calycobolus'' comprises 28 species, of which 25 occur in continental tropical Africa and 3 in tropical America. One species from Madagascar thought to belong to ''Calycobolus'' is in fact ''Bonamia semidigyna'' (Roxb.) Hallier f. Other ''Calycobolus'' species with recorded uses in tropical Africa are ''Calycobolus africanus'' (G.Don) Heine and ''Calycobolus parviflorus'' (Mangenot) Heine, which occur in wetter areas than ''Calycobolus heudelotii''. The range of ''Calycobolus africanus'' overlaps with that of ''Calycobolus heudelotii''. In Côte d’Ivoire a decoction of the leaves is taken for lower back pain, and a bath in a decoction of the stem, as well as applying a paste of leaves and stems have aphrodisiac effects. The leaves are eaten or taken in an enema to cure fever. In Cameroon a root decoction is drunk to overcome sexual dysfunction. The flexible stems of ''Calycobolus africanus'' are used in Côte d’Ivoire as binding material in construction and the thick woody stems are used to make household goods.
=== ''Calycobolus africanus'' ===
The range of ''Calycobolus africanus'' overlaps with that of ''Calycobolus heudelotii''. In Côte d’Ivoire a decoction of the leaves is taken for lower back pain, and a bath in a decoction of the stem, as well as applying a paste of leaves and stems have aphrodisiac effects. The leaves are eaten or taken in an enema to cure fever. In Cameroon a root decoction is drunk to overcome sexual dysfunction. The flexible stems of ''Calycobolus africanus'' are used in Côte d’Ivoire as binding material in construction and the thick woody stems are used to make household goods.
=== ''Calycobolus parviflorus' ===
''Calycobolus parviflorus'' occurs in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. In Côte d’Ivoire the powdered bark is taken with food by pregnant women to sooth stomach-ache.