Dacryodes pubescens

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit

Fruit - cooked. The fruit is an obovoid drupe 20 - 30mm long and 15mm wide. I'm not sure that the report of the fruit being cooked is fully accurate, since boiling is said to harden the flesh. Instead, it is probably treated as below. The flesh of the fruits in this genus usually adheres very strongly to the seed. When placed in hot (but not boiling) water at around 60 - 85°c the fruit softens and swells and all the flesh then slides easily off the seed.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows in lowland rainforests along rivers and sometimes in flooded ground. It suits humid locations.

Africa, Angola, Central Africa, Congo DR, Congo R,

How to Identify

An evergreen tree. It grows 37 m high. The trunk is 150 cm across. The bark is cream and flaking. The leaves are alternate and have leaflets along the stalk with a leaflet at the end. The leaves are 40 cm long. There are 5-8 pairs of leaflets. The leaflets are opposite and 5-20 cm long by 2-7 cm wide. The trees are separately male and female. The fruit are oblong and 2-3 cm long by 1-1.5 cm wide. There is one seed.

How to Grow

A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required.

Other Uses

The inner bark exudes a colourless fragrant resin when cut. The resin has been used for torches. The heartwood is a light brown; it is not clearly demarcated from the 7 - 15cm wide band of pale pink, yellow or grey sapwood, which often extends over half the radius of the log. The grain is straight or interlocked; texture is medium; the wood is lustrous, and ribbon-like markings and small stripes give it an attractive figure. The wood is of moderate weight, moderately hard to hard; not very durable, being susceptible to attack by fungi and dry wood borers, but resistant to termites. It seasons normally, with only a slight risk of distortion but a high risk of checking; once dry it is moderately stable in service. It saws slowly and with some difficulty, with a blunting effect on tools; the use of stellite-tipped saw teeth and tungsten carbide tools is recommended; it works fairly well with hand and machine tools, but rough patches may be produced on planing; it does not split on nailing and holds nails and screws well; peeling characteristics are good, and gluing, boring and sanding properties satisfactory; the wood paints and varnishes well. It is recommended for furniture, screens, door and window frames, stairs and other light carpentry, flooring, construction, vehicle bodies, mine props, poles and piles. It is also considered suitable for ship and boat building, tool handles, agricultural implements, joinery, vats, toys, novelties, turnery, railway sleepers, veneer, core stock, hardboard and particle board[299; 848].

More from Burseraceae

Boswellia dalzielii

Frankincense tree

Boswellia frereana

Coptic frankincense, African elemi

Boswellia microphylla

Boswellia neglecta

Boswellia ogadensis

Boswellia papyrifera

Ethan, Sudanese frakincense