Klainedoxa gabonensis

Family

Irvingiaceae

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Chromosome number

2n = 26

Synonyms

Klainedoxa buesgenii Engl. (1911).

Vernacular names

Origin and geographic distribution

Klainedoxa gabonensis occurs from Senegal east to southern Sudan, Uganda and north-western Tanzania, and south to DR Congo, northern Zambia and Angola.

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Uses

The boles of young trees are traditionally used for poles in hut and house construction. The wood of Klainedoxa gabonensis, known in trade as ‘eveuss’, is used for heavy construction, industrial flooring, joinery, interior trim, mine props, railway sleepers, vehicle bodies, toys, novelties, agricultural implements, tool handles and shingles. It is suitable for furniture and ship building. The flexible twigs are valued in Liberia for spring traps. Buttresses have been used for doors in Sierra Leone. The wood is also used as firewood.
The seed kernels are eaten raw or roasted; they can be made into a paste to produce vegetable oil which is traditionally used for cooking, as a substitute for shea butter from Vitellaria paradoxa C.F.Gaertn. Fruit pulp is used to make a mucilaginous sauce which is often eaten with meat. Fruits are used as bait in traps.
Klainedoxa gabonensis is an important medicinal plant. Powdered or burnt bark is applied to treat rheumatism, lumbago, skin complaints, fractures and dental caries. Bark decoctions are taken to treat venereal diseases, sterility and impotence, and applied externally against smallpox, chickenpox and rheumatism. Leaves are eaten to treat diarrhoea and intestinal complaints and as aphrodisiac, and leaf decoctions are taken to treat abdominal pain. Ground leaves are rubbed in to treat rheumatism. Leaf sap is taken against cough. Pounded stipules are applied externally as anodyne. Fruits ground with calcium carbonate are applied to abscesses and ulcers, and fruit pulp is applied to swellings. Pulverized seeds are rubbed in to treat furuncles.

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Production and international trade

The timber of Klainedoxa gabonensis is rarely traded on the international market and usually only used locally. There is no information on trade statistics.

Properties

The heartwood is orange-yellow to pale brown or golden-brown, often with irregular red-brown markings, darkening upon exposure to dark brown with blackish stripes; it is not clearly demarcated from the orange yellow sapwood, turning greyish upon exposure. The grain is straight to interlocked, texture moderately fine.
The wood is heavy to very heavy, with a density of 940–1150 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content, and very hard. It is difficult to air dry and dries slowly; care is needed to avoid serious distortion and checking. The rates of shrinkage are high, from green to oven dry 6.6–9.8% radial and 9.9–13.2% tangential. It is recommended to quarter-saw the wood before drying. Once dry, the wood is unstable in service.
At 12% moisture content, the modulus of rupture is 167–250 N/mm², modulus of elasticity 15,970–21,280 N/mm², compression parallel to grain 83–104 N/mm², shear 14.5–18.5 N/mm², cleavage 18.5–32 N/mm and Chalais-Meudon side hardness 7.7–18.2.
The wood is difficult to saw and work. Powerful tools are needed. It is recommended to convert wood in the green state because of its extreme hardness when it is dried. Stellite-tipped saw teeth and tungsten-carbide cutting edges are recommended. Saw dust has a tendency to adhere to saw teeth. The wood planes moderately easily and polishes to a smooth finish. It does not easily split upon nailing and holds nails well, but pre-boring is neccessary because of its hardness. It is quite difficult to glue. The heartwood is durable, being resistant to termite and wood-borer attacks, but it is only moderately resistant to fungi in very humid conditions and may be susceptible to marine borers. The sapwood is susceptible to Lyctus attack. The wood is fairly easy to treat with preservatives, except the central part of the heartwood, which is very resistant to impregnation.
The wood contains 43–46% cellulose, 30–32% lignin, 13–15% pentosan, 0.7–1.4% ash and less than 0.02% silica. The solubility is 1.6–7.3% in alcohol-benzene, 1.6–3.2% in hot water and 14.4–18.9% in a 1% NaOH solution.
Phytochemical screening of the bark demonstrated the presence of tannins, alkaloids, quinones and steroid terpenoids. Aqueous bark extracts showed antibacterial activity, particularly against Staphylococcus aureus. They also showed cytotoxic activity against KB human tumour cells. Methyl gallate has been isolated from the extracts.
The seed kernels contain about 40% oil. The main constituents of the essential oil from the leaves are geranyl acetone (14%), β-bourbonene (11%) and (E)-α-ionone (10.5%), from the bark linalool (17%), 1,8-cineole (10%) and 1-octen-3-ol (8%), and from the roots 1,2,3-trimethylbenzene (10%), 1-ethyl-2-methylbenzene (9%), pentyl benzene (9%) and methyl salicylate (9%).

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Adulterations and substitutes

The wood has similar uses to that of Lophira alata Banks ex P.Gaertn., but the latter is more durable. The wood of Irvingia spp. is quite similar to that of Klainedoxa gabonensis, also being heavy, hard and durable, and it is used for similar purposes.

Description

Evergreen, medium-sized to large tree up to 45(–50) m tall; bole usually straight and cylindrical, branchless for up to 25 m, up to 120(–150) cm in diameter, with rather thin, widely spreading buttresses up to 5 m high; bark surface slightly fissured, often flaking in irregular strips, grey to brown or red-brown, inner bark granular, yellow to pale orange-brown; crown often large and umbrella-shaped, branches often ascending; twigs slightly compressed. Leaves alternate, simple and entire; stipules linear, slender, 5–15(–25) cm long, sharply pointed, reddish, deciduous, leaving circular scars; petiole 2–8 mm long; blade broadly ovate to elliptical, 5–20(–40) cm × 2–10 cm, cuneate to cordate and often slightly asymmetrical at base, acute to short-acuminate at apex, leathery, glabrous, glossy, pinnately veined with (10–)14–22(–35) pairs of lateral veins. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal panicle up to 13(–15) cm long, glabrous. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous, white to pink; pedicel 1–8 mm long; sepals free, broadly obovate to nearly round, 1.5–2.5 mm long; petals free, broadly elliptical to nearly round, 2.5–3.5(–4) mm long; stamens (9–)10, free, 4–6 mm long; disk ring-like, fleshy, yellow; ovary superior, seated within the disk, globose, pink, usually 5-celled, style curved. Fruit a depressed-globose drupe 3–6 cm × 4–8(–10) cm, obscurely (4–)5-ribbed or -lobed, green turning dull purplish or dull orange, with fibrous, mucilaginous pulp and (4–)5 oblong to wedge-shaped stones 3–5 cm long, each with rounded processes and 1-seeded. Seeds ellipsoid to oblong, c. 2 cm long. Seedling with epigeal germination; hypocotyl 7–10 cm long, epicotyl 3–4 cm long; cotyledons leafy, linear-elliptical, 2.5–3.5 cm long; first 2 leaves opposite.

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Other botanical information

Klainedoxa comprises only 2 species. Klainedoxa trillesii Pierre ex Tiegh. is a medium-sized tree up to 30 m tall with bole branchless for up to 20 m and up to 120 cm in diameter, occurring from Sierra Leone east to DR Congo. It differs from Klainedoxa gabonensis in its leaves with fewer lateral veins and globose to ellipsoid, bright orange fruits. Its wood is occasionally used for poles in construction. Probably the two species are much confused and not distinguished in logging operations.
Klainedoxa gabonensis is quite variable, especially in size and shape of the leaves and size of the fruits.

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Anatomy

Wood-anatomical description (IAWA hardwood codes):
Growth rings: 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; (26: intervessel pits medium (7–10 μm)); 27: intervessel pits large (≥ 10 μm); 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); 43: mean tangential diameter of vessel lumina ≥ 200 μm; 46: ≤ 5 vessels per square millimetre; 56: tyloses common; 57: tyloses sclerotic. Tracheids and fibres: 61: fibres with simple to minutely bordered pits; 66: non-septate fibres present; 70: fibres very thick-walled. Axial parenchyma: 80: axial parenchyma aliform; 82: axial parenchyma winged-aliform; 83: axial parenchyma confluent; 85: axial parenchyma bands more than three cells wide; 86: axial parenchyma in narrow bands or lines up to three cells wide; 93: eight (5–8) cells per parenchyma strand; 94: over eight cells per parenchyma strand. Rays: 97: ray width 1–3 cells; (98: larger rays commonly 4- to 10-seriate); 104: all ray cells procumbent; 106: body ray cells procumbent with one row of upright and/or square marginal cells; 115: 4–12 rays per mm. Mineral inclusions: 136: prismatic crystals present; 142: prismatic crystals in chambered axial parenchyma cells.
(L. Awoyemi, A.A. Oteng-Amoako & P. Baas)

Growth and development

Seedlings are usually found in the shade, but saplings have been recorded in small canopy gaps. Young trees have up to 12 cm long spines on the bole, which gradually disappear when the tree becomes larger. Although the tree is evergreen, it may be leafless for a short period. Flowering of trees is common at the end of the rainy season and at the beginning of the dry season. In Côte d’Ivoire trees flower in July–November and in Gabon in February–May. Ripe fruits develop about 9 months after flowering. They are an important food for forest elephants, porcupines, duikers and gorillas. Elephants serve as dispersers of the fruit stones. More rapid seed germination has been reported in elephant dung, as well as better growth of seedlings.

Ecology

Klainedoxa gabonensis can be found in a wide range of forest types, but is most common in humid evergreen and semi-deciduous forest. Sometimes it occurs at the edges of seasonally flooded forest, in gallery forest, and in the forest-savanna transition zone. It is found up to 1200 m altitude and in regions with a mean annual rainfall of 1500–2500 mm. It prefers sandy soils. The tree is usually left standing when forest is cleared due to the hardness of the wood but also for fruit production, and this may explain why it is commonly found in secondary forest.

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Propagation and planting

Fruits weigh 50–220 g. Each fruit contains (4–)5 stones, which take a long time to germinate, 6–24(–48) months. From one fruit, 1–3(–5) seedlings may develop. The germination rate is rather low, 5–40%. In Liberia regeneration in the forest has been reported to be scarce, but in Gabon seedlings and saplings are quite common, often occurring in clumps originating from stones in elephant dung.

Management

Klainedoxa gabonensis is locally quite common, although it usually occurs scattered in the forest. In forest in Cameroon, an average density of 0.4 tree with a bole diameter of more than 60 cm per ha has been recorded, with an average wood volume of 3.2–4.1 m³/ha. In Liberia an average density of up to 0.3 tree with a bole diameter of more than 60 cm per ha has been reported. In Gabon the average wood volume is 0.6–2.5 m³/ha.

Harvesting

The recommended minimum bole diameter for felling in Ghana is 90 cm, and in the Central African Republic and Gabon 70 cm.

Yield

A bole of 21 m long and 110 cm in diameter felled in DR Congo yielded 12.4 m³ of wood.

Handling after harvest

Freshly felled logs do not float in water and therefore cannot be transported by river. Logs may be brittle and must be handled with care.

Genetic resources and breeding

Klainedoxa gabonensis has a wide range of distribution with limited local uses due to the extreme hardness of the wood. It is therefore unlikely to be under threat as a result of overexploitation.

Prospects

Klainedoxa gabonensis is a multipurpose tree. Its timber will remain of importance for local applications, especially for construction because of its durability. On the other hand, the extreme hardness of the wood limits the possibilities for local utilization. The prospects as commercial timber on the international market are unclear as long as virtually no information is available on growth rates and proper management measures. There seems to be scope for increased utilization and commercialization of fruits and seed kernels, but more research is still needed. The numerous applications in traditional medicine warrant more phytochemical and pharmacological investigations; preliminary results are quite promising.

Major references

• 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.
• Burkill, H.M., 1994. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 2, Families E–I. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 636 pp.
• Fouarge, J. & Gérard, G., 1964. Bois du Mayumbe. Institut National pour l’Etude Agronomique du Congo (INEAC), Brussels, Belgium. 579 pp.
• Harris, D.J., 1996. A revision of the Irvingiaceae in Africa. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique National de Belgique 65: 143–196.
• Konda ku Mbuta, Kabakura Mwima, Mbembe Bitengeli, Itufa Y'Okolo, Mahuku Kavuna, Mafuta Mandanga, Mpoyi Kalambayi, Ndemankeni Izamajole, Kadima Kazembe, Kelela Booto, Ngiuvu Vasaki, Bongombola Mwabonsika & Dumu Lody, 2010. Plantes médicinales de traditions. Province de l'Equateur - R.D. Congo. Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (I.R.S.S.), Kinshasa, D.R.Congo. 418 pp.
• Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (Editor), 2006. 100 tropical African timber trees from Ghana: tree description and wood identification with notes on distribution, ecology, silviculture, ethnobotany and wood uses. 304 pp.
• Savill, P.S. & Fox, J.E.D., 1967. Trees of Sierra Leone. Forest Department, Freetown, Sierra Leone. 316 pp.
• Takahashi, A., 1978. Compilation of data on the mechanical properties of foreign woods (part 3) Africa. Shimane University, Matsue, Japan. 248 pp.
• Vivien, J. & Faure, J.J., 1985. Arbres des forêts denses d’Afrique Centrale. Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique, Paris, France. 565 pp.
• Voorhoeve, A.G., 1979. Liberian high forest trees. A systematic botanical study of the 75 most important or frequent high forest trees, with reference to numerous related species. Agricultural Research Reports 652, 2nd Impression. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, Netherlands. 416 pp.

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Other references

• Berhaut, J., 1975. Flore illustrée du Sénégal. Dicotylédones. Volume 4. Ficoidées à Légumineuses. Gouvernement du Sénégal, Ministère du Développement Rural et de l’Hydraulique, Direction des Eaux et Forêts, Dakar, Senegal. 625 pp.
• Breteler, F.J., 2005. Novitates Gabonenses 55. Manuscript names and drawings of the French botanist Louis Pierre (1833-1905): a discussion about their validity with some examples of nomenclatural consequences for the Gabonese flora in particular. Adansonia, séries 3, 27(2): 325–335.
• CIRAD Forestry Department, 2008. Eveuss. [Internet] Tropix 6.0. http://tropix.cirad.fr/ africa/eveuss.pdf. Accessed February 2011.
• Cooper, G.P. & Record, S.J., 1931. The evergreen forests of Liberia. School of Forestry, Yale University, Bulletin 31, New Haven, United States. 153 pp.
• de Koning, J., 1983. La forêt de Banco. Part 2: La Flore. Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen 83–1. Wageningen, Netherlands. 921 pp.
• de Saint-Aubin, G., 1963. La forêt du Gabon. Publication No 21 du Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 208 pp.
• Gentry, A.H., 1984. Klainedoxa (Irvingiaceae) at Makokou, Gabon: Three sympatric species in a putatively monotypic genus. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 71(1): 166–168.
• Harris, D.J., 1999. Part 1. Irvingiaceae. In: Orchard, A.E. (Editor). Species plantarum. Flora of the World. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, Australia. 25 pp.
• Hawthorne, W.D., 1995. Ecological profiles of Ghanaian forest trees. Tropical Forestry Papers 29. Oxford Forestry Institute, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. 345 pp.
• Hawthorne, W. & Jongkind, C., 2006. Woody plants of western African forests: a guide to the forest trees, shrubs and lianes from Senegal to Ghana. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. 1023 pp.
• Irvine, F.R., 1961. Woody plants of Ghana, with special reference to their uses. Oxford University Press, London, United Kingdom. 868 pp.
• Kunkel, G., 1965. The trees of Liberia. Field notes on the more important trees of the Liberian forests, and a field identification key. Report No 3 of the German Forestry Mission to Liberia. Bayerischer Landwirtschaftsverlag, München, Basel, Wien. 270 pp.
• Neuwinger, H.D., 2000. African traditional medicine: a dictionary of plant use and applications. Medpharm Scientific, Stuttgart, Germany. 589 pp.
• Ogunwande, I.A., Essien, E.E., Ogunbinu, A.O., Adebayo, M., Karioti, A., Saroglou, V. & Skaltsa, H., 2008. Essential oil constituents of Klainedoxa gabonensis Pierre ex Engl. (Irvingiaceae), Brachystegia nigerica Hoyle et A. Jones (Caesalpinioideae) and Acalypha segetalis (Muell.) Arg. (Euphorbiaceae). Journal of Essential Oil Research 20(3): 211–215.
• Onanga, M., Ekouya, A., Ouabonzi, A. & Itoua, G.B., 1999. Ethnobotanical, pharmacological and chemical studies of plants used in the treatment of ‘Mwandza’ dermatites. Fitoterapia 70: 579–585.
• Sallenave, P., 1955. Propriétés physiques et mécaniques des bois tropicaux de l’Union française. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 129 pp.
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• Verdcourt, B., 1984. Ixonanthaceae. In: Polhill, R.M. (Editor). Flora of Tropical East Africa. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands. 12 pp.
• Vivien, J. & Faure, J.J., 1996. Fruitiers sauvages d’Afrique: espèces du Cameroun. Ministère Français de la Coopération, Paris, France & CTA, Wageningen, Netherlands. 416 pp.
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Afriref references

Sources of illustration

• Voorhoeve, A.G., 1979. Liberian high forest trees. A systematic botanical study of the 75 most important or frequent high forest trees, with reference to numerous related species. Agricultural Research Reports 652, 2nd Impression. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, Netherlands. 416 pp.
• Wilks, C. & Issembé, Y., 2000. Les arbres de la Guinée Equatoriale: Guide pratique d’identification: région continentale. Projet CUREF, Bata, Guinée Equatoriale. 546 pp.

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Author(s)

•	A.A. Oteng-Amoako Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University P.O. Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
•	E.A. Obeng Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University P.O. Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

Editors

•	R.H.M.J. Lemmens PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
•	D. Louppe CIRAD, Département Environnements et Sociétés, Cirad es-dir, Campus international de Baillarguet, TA C 105 / D (Bât. C, Bur. 113), 34398 Montpellier Cédex 5, France
•	A.A. Oteng-Amoako Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University P.O. Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

Associate editors

•	E.A. Obeng Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University P.O. Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

Photo editor

•	G.H. Schmelzer PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article

Oteng-Amoako, A.A. & Obeng, E.A., 2012. Klainedoxa gabonensis Pierre. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Louppe, D. & Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (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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