Changes

| Medicinal= 3

}}

<big>''[[Erythrophleum africanum]]'' (Welw. ex Benth.) Harms</big>

__NOTOC__

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Erythrophleum africanum'' (PROTA)}}

:Protologue: Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 12: 298 (1913).

:Chromosome number:

== Vernacular names ==

== Origin and geographic distribution ==

The wood is red-brown, heavy, hard and very durable and is resistant to termites, powder-post beetles and marine borers.

Small tree up to 15 m tall; bole straight and cylindrical, up to 120 cm in diameter; crown spreading, fairly dense; young parts very variable hairy. Leaves alternate, bipinnately compound with (2–)3–4 pairs of opposite pinnae; stipules minute; petiole 3.5–5.5 cm long, rachis 3–15 cm long; leaflets alternate, 8–17 per pinna, elliptical or ovate, up to 6.5 cm × 3.5 cm, base asymmetrical, apex obtuse to rounded. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal panicle consisting of spike-like racemes up to 10 cm long, often shortly hairy. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous, white to yellowish green; pedicel c. 1 mm long, hairy; calyx c. 2.5 mm long, tube about as long as lobes; petals narrowly obovate, up to 4 mm × 1 mm; stamens 10, free, up to 8 mm long; ovary superior, long woolly hairy, 1-celled, stigma broadly peltate. Fruit a flat, straight, dehiscent pod, elliptical in outline, 5–19 cm × 2–4.5 cm, base rounded, apex rounded or tapering, thick leathery, pendulous, 3–4-seeded. Seeds ovoid, compressed, c. 12 mm × 10 mm × 4 mm.

''Erythrophleum'' comprises about 10 species, 4 or 5 of which occur in continental Africa, 1 in Madagascar, 3 in eastern Asia, and 1 in Australia. The genus is one of the few ''Caesalpiniaceae'' reported to contain alkaloids. The areas of distribution of ''Erythrophleum africanum'' and ''Erythrophleum suaveolens'' largely overlap and the 2 species share many uses and properties and therefore confusion is quite likely. The results of earlier pharmacological work are blurred by doubtful identifications. The 2 species differ in ecology, a number of morphological characteristics and the alkaloid profile of the bark. Nodulation and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae were observed in the roots of ''Erythrophleum africanum''. The rhizobium involved in nodulation probably belongs to the genus ''Bradyrhizobium''.

''Erythrophleum'' alkaloids have similar pharmacological activities as digitoxine and ouabain.

== Ecology ==

''Erythrophleum africanum'' is common in deciduous woodland, and is absent from riparian woodlands and the dry savanna of the Sahel. It occurs at 600–1400 m altitude, and resists bushfires.

== Management ==

* Storrs, A.E.G., 1979. Know your trees: some of the common trees found in Zambia. Forest Department, Ndola, Zambia. 380 pp.

== Author(s) ==

== Correct citation of this article ==

[[fr:{{PAGENAME}}]]