Dacryodes edulis
(G. Don) H. J. Lam
Bush butter tree, African-pear
Wikimedia Commons - Safoutier.jpg
(c) markusgmeiner, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Seeds, Fruit
The fruit is eaten raw or cooked and has a pleasant, mildly acidic flavour. The edible portion is the pulpy, butyraceous pericarp, about 5mm thick, surrounding the leathery-shelled stone. When placed in hot water the flesh softens and swells, sliding easily off the seed. Softening is driven by cell-wall-degrading enzymes: at 60–85°C this takes only minutes, while at room temperature it takes 7–10 days (reduced to 3 days with bruising and microbial activity). Boiling inactivates the enzymes, causing the pulp to harden. The fruit is usually salted and tastes like a warmed ripe avocado with a slightly sour flavour and a mild smell of turpentine. It is oily, with a fatty acid composition of palmitic acid 36.5%, oleic acid 33.9%, linoleic acid 24.0%, and stearic acid 5.5%. The fruit contains 7% protein, which is exceptionally high for a fruit, and measures up to 70mm long and 30mm wide. The seed kernel is also rich in oil with a similar fatty acid profile and proportions. A oil is also pressed from the fruit. This plant is noted as a staple crop for protein and oil.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant. It occurs naturally in forest. It grows from sea level to 1,000 m altitude. It can grow in high and low rainfall areas. It suits the dry savannah.
Africa, Angola, Asia, Australia, Benin, Cabinda, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Congo DR, Congo R, Côte d'Ivoire, East Africa, Equatorial-Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, SE Asia, Sierra Leone, Southern Africa, Togo, Uganda, West Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
How to Identify
A tree. It grows to about 20 m high. The trunk is 1.5 m around. The trunk is usually straight for the first 10 m and does not have buttresses. The bark is grey-brown. It flakes off in irregular thin woody scales. The leaves are in tufts near the ends of branches. The leaves have stout stalks. These are 15-45 cm long. There are 6-8 pairs of leaflets. The middle leaflets are 11-22 cm long by 3.5-6 cm wide. Trees are separately male or female. The flowers are 6 mm across. They have short stout stalks. The flowers are clustered at the ends of branches. Dense rust coloured hairs cover the whole flower group. The fruit are oval and 6 cm long by 3.5 cm wide. They hang in clusters in stout stalks. The fruit are pink but then turn bright blue and nearly black. The pulp smells of turpentine. There is a leathery shelled stone inside.
Nutrition Score: 53/100
| Part | Moisture | kJ | kcal | Protein | Vit A | Vit C | Iron | Zinc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fruit | 56.2 | 1099 | 263 | 4.6 | — | 19 | 0.8 | — |
| Seeds | 89.5 | — | 38 | 7 | — | — | — | — |
How to Grow
Plants are grown from seed. Seed should be sown within one week. Seeds germinate about 2 weeks after planting. Air layering is possible and enables trees of known sex to be chosen. The layers take 6 months before being ready to remove. 5% of the trees in an area should be male. Plants can be budded.
Propagation: Seed has short viability — germination rate drops sharply unless the seed's water content (42% of fresh weight) is maintained, and unless sown within a week, germination and vigour are greatly reduced. Sow in light shade in a nursery seedbed or individual containers. Germination begins around 2 weeks after sowing and is epigeal. Early growth is vigorous and rhythmic, proceeding in flushes in which leaf form shifts abruptly from cataphylls (0–3 per flush) to normal leaves (11–19 leaflets), ending with a sudden transition to severely reduced leaves with only one or two basal pairs of leaflets extended. Cuttings have proved difficult. Air layering has shown up to 80% success; allow 4–6 months before removing the layer from the parent plant, doing so when the plant is not in active growth.
Medicinal Uses
The bark resin is applied to treat parasitic skin diseases and jiggers. A bark decoction, taken powdered with maleguetta pepper, is used as an anti-dysenteric remedy and for anaemia, spitting blood, and as an emmenagogue. The same decoction is used in gargles and mouthwashes for tonsillitis. Pulped bark is applied directly to wounds as a cicatrizant. Combined with palm oil, it is applied topically to relieve general pain, stiffness, and cutaneous conditions. The leaves are eaten raw with kola nut as an antiemetic. Leaf sap is instilled into the ear for ear complaints. A leaf decoction is prepared as a vapour bath to treat feverish stiffness with headache.
Other Uses
The leaves and fruit remains can contribute significant biomass to improve soil fertility, and the tree is used by farmers in the humid forest lowlands of south Cameroon as an indicator of soil fertility. Its canopy allows integration into traditional farming systems alongside shade-tolerant food crops such as Xanthosoma sagittifolium and Colocasia esculenta. The aromatic bark yields a resin on injury, used in perfumery, as an adhesive for mending broken earthenware, as a waterproofing agent for the inner surface of calabashes, and as a primitive lamp oil or bush candle when burned. Steam distillation of the resin yields a peppery essential oil rich in sabinene, beta-phellandrene, and limonene, along with a non-volatile fraction of crystalline canaric acid, a keto acid, and the corresponding hydroxy acid. The fruit contains about 1.5% essential oil whose main constituents are myrcene (45%), alpha-pinene (9%), alpha-terpineol (8%), and germacrene-D (4%), with minor compounds including E-alpha-cadinol, sigma-cadinol, and beta-eudesmol. The wood contains an oil extractable by petrol-ether, composed of fatty acids and their esters. The fresh pulp is rich in lipids (35–65%) with significant palmitic and linoleic acid content, and the tree can yield 7–8 tonnes per hectare of oil. The leaves are a source of dye. The heartwood is greyish white to pinkish and not clearly distinct from the sapwood. The wood is moderately heavy and elastic with a moderately coarse texture. It is somewhat difficult to work due to silica content, which rapidly blunts saw blades, and interlocked grain can cause problems when planing; however, staining, polishing, gluing, and peeling properties are good. Uses include axe handles, mortars, and general carpentry. The wood is also widely used as fuel.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Dacryodes edulis is a fruit tree in the family Burseraceae native to Africa. Its various regional names include safou (Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola), messa, plum (Cameroon), atanga (Equatorial Guinea and Gabon), ube, elumi/rukuki (Nigeria), African pear, bush pear, African plum, nsafu, bush butter tree, or butterfruit.
Production
Early plant growth is rapid. Growth occurs in flushes. Both male and female trees are needed for fruit. Fruit are produced after 5-6 years when grown from seeds. Fruit matures about 5 months after flowering. A mature tree can produce over 100 kg of fruit each year.
Other Information
An important fruit tree in Cameroon and Nigeria. Fruit are sold in local markets. They are exported. It is cultivated.
Names & Synonyms
Ajong, Assa, Assamingoum, Atanga, Bosau, Bukobe, Che, Ekiep, Eleme, Elemi, Lukoshi, Lupele, Mubafo, N'bafo, Nsafu, Olem, Sa, Safou, Safoutier, Safu, Sau, Sene, Sesemu, Tchou, Ube igbo, Ube mbu, Youom
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