ethnobotanical survey of the takamanda forest reserve - Impact ...

Desmodium adscendense (Sw.) DC.
It is a prostrate herb, branches slender, thinly pubescent. The leaflets closely pubescent above.
Terminal leaflet broadly obovate-elliptic. Flowers whitish or pink, pods rather deeply indented on
one side. It easily grown from cuttings or seeds, and useful as a perennial cover crop in
permanent plantations. A leaf decoction is drunk for constipation and the leaves are mixed with
salts and roasted cornmeal and eaten to cure dysentery. The pounded leaves with limejuice are
applied as a dressing to wounds.
Entandrophragma candollei Harms
A huge tree with wide-spreading crown up to 40m high. The buttresses are cylindrical and
rounded, extending to 3m up the trunk. The bark is like that of E. cylindricum at first, becoming
rough and scaly later and dark brown with greyish patches. The slash of young tree is deep pink,
of old trees pinkish with cream-coloured spots, turning to uniform brown later. The leaves are
near the end of branchlets. The flowers are yellow, in short pubescent panicles. The fruits,
scarcely pendulous with woody capsules. It natural regeneration is poor, taking about 14 days to
germinate. It is known as magic tree in the Basal zone where it is used in all the remedies as
antidote.
Garcinia kola Heckel
A spreading forest tree up to 35m high. The crown is dense and heavy. The bark is greenish
brown, thick, and smooth, sap resinous and yellow. Leaves shortly acuminate. Male and female
flowers are separate; female flowers yellow and male with greenish-white petals. Fruits are
smooth reddish-yellow in colour. The raw bark is used as purgative, while the powdered bark is
applied to malignant tumours and cancer. The sap is used against parasitic skin diseases. The
seeds are used in Lagos (Nigeria) for bronchitis and throat troubles.
Manniophyton fulvum Mull.Arg.
It is a straggly bush or lofty, hairy woody climber. The branchlets have brown stinging hairs. The
leaves are often asymmetric. The male and female flowers are separate. The fruits are nearly
spherical with raised ribs. This plant is renowned for its medicinal properties in part of Ivory
Cost. A root decoction with leafy twigs is used for treating stomachache and gonorrhoea. The
drink made of decoction of roots and young shoots is a sovereign remedy for coughs and
bronchitis.
Massularia acuminata (G. Don) Bullock ex Hoyle
A shrub of about 12 m high leaves sub sessile, elliptic-oblanceolate, and acuminate. The flowers
are usually red, the fruit narrowly ovoid. The bark, leaves, and fruits are used in Liberia as a fish
poison. It is sometime used medicinally but always-in external application. The pulped roots as
enema are said to be effective for dysentery and an aphrodisiac.
Morinda lucida Lam.
A medium size tree up to 8 m high, crown dense, branchlets slender, leaves broadly elliptic to
broadly ovate, acuminate, and entire. The flowers are white, fragrant, in terminal and axillary
peduncle heads. The fruits are lobed and black. A decoction of the bark of the roots or stem with
spices is drunk or used as enema for fever with constipation or drunk for piles and dysentery.
Musanga cecropioides R. Br.
A small to medium size tree up to 20m high, above the ground roots are present, rapid growing
coloniser of forest openings, crown umbrella-like. Leaves alternate, greyish hairy below,
acuminate, deeply digitate. The flowers are inconspicuously male and female separate. The fruits
are succulent and green. The fruits are sometimes eaten in Congo. The bark shavings are used for
making sugar-cane wine more intoxicating. The bark infusion is used as a gargle for toothache
and a bark decoction is used for treating chest troubles.
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