Prunus africana, the African cherry,[ Previewable Google Books.][ Previewable Google Books.]
Ecology
As with other members of the genus
Prunus,
Prunus africana possesses extrafloral nectaries that provide antiherbivore insects with a nutrient source in return for protecting the foliage.
In addition to its value for its timber and its medicinal uses,
Prunus africana is an important food source for frugivorous birds and mammals.
Dian Fossey reports of the
mountain gorilla:
Dian Fossey (2025). 061808360X, Houghton Mifflin Books. 061808360X
"The northwestern slopes of
Visoke offered several ridges of
Pygeum africanum .... The fruits of this tree are highly favored by gorillas."
East African Mammals reports that stands of
Pygeum are the habitat of the rare Carruther's mountain squirrel, and asserts, "This forest type tends to have a rather broken canopy with many trees smothered in climbers and dense tangles of undergrowth."
It is currently protected under Appendix II of
CITES since 16 February 1995 and in South Africa under the National Forests Act (Act 84) of 1998.
Large numbers of trees are harvested for their bark to meet the international demand based on its medicinal qualities. Early studies on the effects of bark harvest showed that the harvest affected population structure, increased mortality, and decreased fecundity.[Parrott J., Parrott, H., 1989. Report on the conservation of Prunus ( Pygeum africanum) in Cameroon. Unpublished report prepared for the International Council for Bird Preservation (now Birdlife International).][Ewusi, B.N., Eben-Ebai, S., Asanga, C.A., Nkongo, J.B.N., 1992. "An evaluation of the quantity and distribution of Pygeum africanum on the slopes of Mount Cameroon." Unpublished report prepared for Plantecam-Medicam.][Walter, S., Rakotonorina, J.C.R., 1995. "L'exploitation of Prunus africana à Madagascar." Rapportt à P. Zahemena et au Département de l'Eau and des Forêts, Antannarivo, Madagascar.] However, quantitative studies to examine specific life history parameters and possible sustainable harvesting practices were begun only recently[Stewart, K.M., 2001. "The commercial bark harvest of Prunus africana on Mount Oku, Cameroon: effects on traditional uses and population dynamics." Ph.D. Dissertation, Florida International University.] and 2009
Uses
Traditional and alternative medicine
The species has a long history of traditional uses. The bark is used in numerous ways: as a wound dressing, a purgative, or an appetite stimulant, and to treat fevers, malaria, arrow poisoning, stomach pain, kidney disease, gonorrhoea, and insanity.
The extract called pygeum is a herbal remedy prepared from the bark of P. africana and is promoted as an alternative medicine for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
Other uses
The timber is a hardwood employed in the manufacture of axe and hoe handles, utensils, wagons, floors, chopping blocks, carving boards, bridge decks, and furniture. The wood is tough, heavy, straight-grained, and pink, with a pungent bitter-almond smell when first cut, turning mahogany and odourless later.
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Conservation status
The collection of mature bark for its use in traditional medicine and other uses has resulted in the species becoming vulnerable.[ The species is listed in Appendix II of CITES to regulate its international trade.]
Discovery and classification
The name of the remedy "Pygeum" comes from the name of the plant, which was discovered to botany by Gustav Mann during his now-famous first European exploration of the Cameroon line, with Sir Richard Francis Burton and Alfred Saker, in 1861. A letter from Mann to the Linnean Society of London, read by William Jackson Hooker, then director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on June 5, 1862, describes the naming of the peaks of the Cameroon Range (such as Mount Victoria, later Mount Cameroon[The British names did not survive the transfer of Cameroon to Germany in 1884, and now are nearly unknown.]) and the collection of specimens there.
When the publication came out[ The article occupies pp. 171–240. The botanical abbreviation for this publication is J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot.] the Hookers had named the plant Pygeum africanum, followed by the designation "n. sp.", an abbreviation for nova species. The habitat is listed as "Cameroons Mountains, alt. 7000-7500 feet", which was above the tropical forest and in the alpine grasslands. Hooker notes that another specimen had been "gathered in tropical Eastern Africa" at 3000 feet by Dr. Kirk on an expedition of David Livingstone.
The first publication of the synonym in 1864 had been preceded by publication of the bare name in 1863 in a book by Richard Francis Burton.[Page 47, first note.]
Hooker gives scant hint of why he chose "pygeum", but what he does say indicates it was common knowledge among botanists. Kirk's specimen fruit was "a much-depressed sphere". By this, he undoubtedly meant to reference Joseph Gaertner's genus, Pygeum Gaertn.,[See under De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum. The edition is the 1788.] from a Greek word, πυγή, "rump, buttock", because the two lobes of the fruit resemble the human gluteus maximus muscles.[ Previewable Google Books.]
In 1965, Cornelis Kalkman moved Pygeum to Prunus, and this classification has the authority for now.[ The specification is Blumea 13:33.] However, a recent cladistic study notes of Pygeum: "its relationships to Prunus remain to be tested by molecular cladistics."
Names
Prunus africana is known by the common names African cherry, pygeum (from its former scientific name, Pygeum africanum), iron wood, red stinkwood, African plum, African prune, African almond and bitter almond.
Palaeobotanic evidence
A 1994/1995 study published in 1997 by Marchant and Taylor did a pollen analysis on and radiocarbon-dated two core samples from montane Mubindi Swamp in Uganda.
Further reading
External links
