Pouteria adolfi-friedericii

Family

Sapotaceae

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Synonyms

Sideroxylon adolfi-friedericii Engl. (1913), Aningeria adolfi-friedericii (Engl.) Robyns & G.C.C.Gilbert (1947).

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Vernacular names

Aningeria (En).

Origin and geographic distribution

Pouteria adolfi-friedericii occurs from eastern DR Congo, southern Sudan and south-western Ethiopia south to eastern Zimbabwe.

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Uses

In East Africa the wood (trade names: aningeria, aningre, muna) is valued for furniture. It is also suitable for light construction, light flooring, interior trim, joinery, cabinet work, boats, vehicle bodies, boxes and crates, veneer and plywood, and pulpwood. It is used as firewood and for charcoal production. The sweet fruit pulp is eaten raw. The seed oil is used for cooking. The tree is used as a shade tree in plantations. In Kenya a bark decoction is drunk to treat stomach disorders. In Ethiopia the fruits are used as a traditional taenicidal drug, usually as a paste in barley porridge.

Production and international trade

The timber is traded on the international market, but statistics on production and export amounts are not available. In 2003 in Ethiopia, the price of primary grade Pouteria adolfi-friedericii sawn wood was US$ 275/m³.

Properties

The heartwood is pale greyish brown with a pink tinge and not distinctly demarcated from the sapwood. The grain is straight or wavy, texture moderately fine to coarse. The wood is lustrous and shows a mottled figure when the grain is wavy.
The wood is moderately light, with a density of 450–545 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content. Drying usually does not cause problems, but there is a slight risk of distortion and checking, and a tendency to blue stain, especially in early stages of air drying. Once dry, the wood is moderately stable in service.
The wood contains up to 0.3% silica and consequently the blunting effect on saws and cutting tools may be high. Stellite-tipped sawteeth and tungsten-carbide tools are recommended. The wood planes well and takes a good polish. The nailing and screwing properties are good, and the wood stains, paints and glues well. Good veneer can be produced by slicing and rotary peeling. The wood is not durable and liable to attack by fungi, termites, pinhole borers and marine borers. It is permeable to preservatives.
Tests in Ethiopia have shown that the expulsion time of the tapeworm Taenia saginata by Pouteria adolfi-friedericii fruits was about 30 hours in humans. However, fruit extracts showed moderate toxicity in mice when administered in the abdominal cavity. As a taenicidal drug the fruits are of comparatively poor value considering their toxicity, potency and worm expulsion time.

Adulterations and substitutes

The wood of Pouteria spp. from West Africa closely resembles that of Pouteria adolfi-friedericii and is used for the same purposes. The wood of some Chrysophyllum spp. is often mixed in trade with Pouteria wood.

Description

Very large tree up to 50 m tall; bole up to 150(–200) cm in diameter, branchless for up to 27 m, straight and cylindrical, sometimes fluted, often with wide buttresses; bark surface greyish brown, shallowly fissured, inner bark pale pinkish brown, smelling unpleasant, exuding latex; crown dense, rounded; young branches densely reddish brown hairy. Leaves arranged spirally, simple and entire; stipules absent; petiole 1–2 cm long, densely hairy; blade elliptical to ovate-oblong, 4–22 cm × 2–8.5 cm, cuneate at base, rounded to shortly acuminate at apex, margins often inrolled, densely orange-brown pubescent on veins below, with glandular translucent dots that are very obscure in full-grown leathery leaves, pinnately veined with 10–25 pairs of lateral veins. Flowers in fascicles in leaf axils, bisexual, regular, (4–)5-merous, fragrant; pedicel 5–10 mm long, densely hairy; sepals free, ovate to elliptical, up to 6 mm long, pubescent outside; corolla with up to 6.5 mm long tube and rounded lobes up to 2 mm long, hairy at margins, creamy white; stamens inserted in upper part of corolla tube, opposite corolla lobes; ovary superior, globose, long-hairy, 5-celled, style up to 6.5 mm long, stigma 5-lobed. Fruit a narrowly ellipsoid berry up to 4 cm long, with c. 1 cm long beak, greenish, finely hairy, 1-seeded. Seed ovoid to ellipsoid, up to 3 cm long, shiny brown, with very large scar. Seedling with hypogeal germination; cotyledons thick and fleshy.

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Other botanical information

Pouteria is pantropical and comprises approximately 320 species, about 200 of them in tropical America, 120 in tropical Asia and only 6 in Africa. The African species were classified in the genera Aningeria and Malacantha, but both have been included in Pouteria. Pouteria has been subdivided into 9 sections. The African species belong to section Rivicoa, together with some American species including the well-known fruit tree Pouteria campechiana (Kunth) Baehni (canistel or yellow sapote).
The timber of Pouteria spp. is sometimes confused with that of Chrysophyllum spp., but the latter genus differs in the absence of translucent dots in the leaves and fruits containing several seeds. In the forest Pouteria adolfi-friedericii often occurs together with Chrysophyllum gorungosanum Engl., of which the leaves have more closely appressed hairs below.
Pouteria adolfi-friedericii is variable and 5 subspecies have been distinguished, mainly based on leaf characters. Most of them have restricted distribution areas.

Anatomy

Wood-anatomical description (IAWA hardwood codes):
Growth rings: (1: growth ring boundaries distinct); (2: growth ring boundaries indistinct or absent). Vessels: 5: wood diffuse-porous; 13: simple perforation plates; 22: intervessel pits alternate; (23: shape of alternate pits polygonal); 25: intervessel pits small (4–7 μm); 26: intervessel pits medium (7–10 μm); (30: vessel-ray pits with distinct borders; similar to intervessel pits in size and shape throughout the ray cell); 31: vessel-ray pits with much reduced borders to apparently simple: pits rounded or angular; 32: vessel-ray pits with much reduced borders to apparently simple: pits horizontal (scalariform, gash-like) to vertical (palisade); 33: vessel-ray pits of two distinct sizes or types in the same ray cell; 41: mean tangential diameter of vessel lumina 50–100 μm; 42: mean tangential diameter of vessel lumina 100–200 μm; 48: 20–40 vessels per square millimetre. Tracheids and fibres: 61: fibres with simple to minutely bordered pits; 66: non-septate fibres present; 69: fibres thin- to thick-walled. Axial parenchyma: 77: axial parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates; 86: axial parenchyma in narrow bands or lines up to three cells wide; (87: axial parenchyma reticulate); (89: axial parenchyma in marginal or in seemingly marginal bands); 92: four (3–4) cells per parenchyma strand; 93: eight (5–8) cells per parenchyma strand; (94: over eight cells per parenchyma strand). Rays: 97: ray width 1–3 cells; (100: rays with multiseriate portion(s) as wide as uniseriate portions); (106: body ray cells procumbent with one row of upright and/or square marginal cells); 107: body ray cells procumbent with mostly 2–4 rows of upright and/or square marginal cells; (108: body ray cells procumbent with over 4 rows of upright and/or square marginal cells); 116: ≥ 12 rays per mm. Mineral inclusions: (136: prismatic crystals present); (142: prismatic crystals in chambered axial parenchyma cells); 159: silica bodies present; 160: silica bodies in ray cells.
(N.P. Mollel, P. Baas & A.A. Oteng-Amoako)

Growth and development

The tree grows slowly. The roots are associated with arbuscular mycorrhizae. In Uganda fruits are ripe in April, in Zimbabwe from January to April.

Ecology

Pouteria adolfi-friedericii occurs in upland rainforest at (1000–)1200–2500 m altitude, where it is common in many regions. At higher elevations it is often associated with Podocarpus spp.

Propagation and planting

Experiments in Ethiopia revealed that regeneration in natural forest was poor. Seeds lose viability very quickly and should be sown directly after collection. Sometimes wildlings are collected for planting.

Management

In Ethiopia and Uganda Pouteria adolfi-friedericii is planted in timber plantations and in degraded montane forest, but information on cultivation methods is not available. The tree can be managed by coppicing and pollarding.

Harvesting

In south-western Ethiopia trees are still commonly felled with axes, followed by bucking into an average log length of 4 m, and crawler bulldozer extraction.
In Tanzania fruits are collected from the wild, from January to June.

Yield

In natural forest in south-western Ethiopia the logging intensity is estimated at 2 trees/ha with an average bole volume of 15.5 m³ per tree. However, the combined logging and sawmilling recovery rate, or final yield of product from a tree, was estimated at only 14%. The low recovery rate is mainly due to the difficulty of processing buttressed logs. Removal of buttresses by sawing before felling increases timber yield considerably. The estimated recovery rate of delivered log volume at the sawmill was 36%.

Handling after harvest

Logs should be extracted from the forest as soon as possible after felling or directly treated with anti-sapstain preservatives as they are very susceptible to blue stain. To collect the oil, seeds are pounded and boiled. The liquid is filtered and cooled, and subsequently the oil is skimmed off.

Genetic resources and breeding

In several regions Pouteria adolfi-friedericii is under pressure because of large-scale deforestation of the mountains and selective logging, e.g. in south-western Ethiopia. This is especially alarming since the mountain forest in which Pouteria adolfi-friedericii occurs is floristically the richest forest type in Ethiopia. In these forests, up to over 90% of logging comprises Pouteria adolfi-friedericii. However, in other regions the species occurs locally abundantly, also in sites which are difficult to access for logging, and when the whole area of distribution is taken into account it does not yet appear endangered by genetic erosion.

Prospects

There is much scope for improving yield and quality of Pouteria adolfi-friedericii veneer and sawn wood by utilizing optimal production techniques. In many areas, e.g. in south-western Ethiopia, obsolete equipment is still used in sawmills and plywood factories, whereas felled trees are utilized inefficiently. It has been demonstrated that the timber production from the same number of trees could be at least doubled by using optimal techniques of harvesting and processing. This could also contribute to the development of much needed ecologically sound sustainable management techniques for the remaining natural mountain forests in which Pouteria adolfi-friedericii plays a prominent role.

Major references

• Abebe, T. & Holm, S., 2003. Estimation of wood residues from small-scale commercial selective logging and sawmilling in tropical rain forests of south-western Ethiopia. International Forestry Review 5(1): 45–52.
• Bolza, E. & Keating, W.G., 1972. African timbers: the properties, uses and characteristics of 700 species. Division of Building Research, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia. 710 pp.
• Hemsley, J.H., 1968. Sapotaceae. In: Milne-Redhead, E. & Polhill, R.M. (Editors). Flora of Tropical East Africa. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom. 79 pp.
• Katende, A.B., Birnie, A. & Tengnäs, B., 1995. Useful trees and shrubs for Uganda: identification, propagation and management for agricultural and pastoral communities. Technical Handbook 10. Regional Soil Conservation Unit, Nairobi, Kenya. 710 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.

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Other references

• Beentje, H.J., 1994. Kenya trees, shrubs and lianas. National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya. 722 pp.
• Bekele-Tesemma, A., Birnie, A. & Tengnäs, B., 1993. Useful trees and shrubs for Ethiopia: identification, propagation and management for agricultural and pastoral communities. Technical Handbook No 5. Regional Soil Conservation Unit/SIDA, Nairobi, Kenya. 474 pp.
• Coates Palgrave, K., 1983. Trees of southern Africa. 2nd Edition. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. 959 pp.
• Desta, B., 1995. Ethiopian traditional herbal drugs. Part 1: Studies on the toxicity and therapeutic activity of local taenicidal medications. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 45(1): 27–33.
• Eggeling, W.J. & Dale, I.R., 1951. The indigenous trees of the Uganda Protectorate. Government Printer, Entebbe, Uganda. 491 pp.
• InsideWood, undated. [Internet] http://insidewood.lib.ncsu.edu/search/. Accessed May 2007.
• Kokwaro, J.O., 1993. Medicinal plants of East Africa. 2nd Edition. Kenya Literature Bureau, Nairobi, Kenya. 401 pp.
• Kupicha, F.K., 1983. Sapotaceae. In: Launert, E. (Editor). Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 7, part 1. Flora Zambesiaca Managing Committee, London, United Kingdom. pp. 210–247.
• Lovett, J.C., Ruffo, C.K., Gereau, R.E. & Taplin, J.R.D., 2006. Field guide to the moist forest trees of Tanzania. [Internet] Centre for Ecology Law and Policy, Environment Department, University of York, York, United Kingdom. http://www.york.ac.uk/ res/celp/webpages/projects/ecology/ tree%20guide/guide.htm. Accessed December 2006.
• Oxford Forestry Institute, 1997–2004. Prospect: the wood database for Windows. Version 2.1. [Internet] University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. http://www.plants.ox.ac.uk/ ofi/prospect/ index.htm. Accessed December 2007.
• Sommerlatte, H. & Sommerlatte, M., 1990. A field guide to the trees and shrubs of the Imatong Mountains, southern Sudan. Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammmenarbeit (GTZ), Nairobi, Kenya. 372 pp.
• Tesfaye, G. & Teketay, D. & Fetene, M., 2002. Regeneration of fourteen tree species in Harenna forest, southeastern Ethiopia. Flora 197(6): 461–474.
• Wimbush, S.H., 1957. Catalogue of Kenya timbers. 2nd reprint. Government Printer, Nairobi, Kenya. 74 pp.

Afriref references

Sources of illustration

• Dale, I.R. & Greenway, P.J., 1961. Kenya trees and shrubs. Buchanan’s Kenya Estates Limited, Nairobi, Kenya. 654 pp.
• Hemsley, J.H., 1968. Sapotaceae. In: Milne-Redhead, E. & Polhill, R.M. (Editors). Flora of Tropical East Africa. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom. 79 pp.

Author(s)

•	R.H.M.J. Lemmens PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Editors

•	D. Louppe CIRAD, Département Environnements et Sociétés, Cirad es-dir, Campus international de Baillarguet, TA C-DIR / B (Bât. C, Bur. 113), 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
•	A.A. Oteng-Amoako Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University P.O. Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
•	M. Brink PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

General editors

•	R.H.M.J. Lemmens PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
•	L.P.A. Oyen PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
•	J.R. Cobbinah Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University P.O. Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

Photo editor

•	A. de Ruijter PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article

Lemmens, R.H.M.J., 2007. Pouteria adolfi-friedericii (Engl.) A.Meeuse. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Louppe, D., Oteng-Amoako, A.A. & Brink, M. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>. Accessed .

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