A small forest tree named for its flower, shaped like a wide-brimmed hat.
Napoleon's hat (Napoleonaea imperialis, family Lecythidaceae) is a slow-growing evergreen shrub or small tree up to 7 metres tall, with a dense crown of many branches that start low on the trunk. Its edible fruit is sometimes gathered from the wild for local use, and it is sometimes planted as an ornamental, mainly for its flowers.
It grows in West and Central Africa from Benin to Gabon, as an understorey tree in rainforest. It is a plant of the moist lowland tropics and prefers dappled shade and a rich, moist, acid soil. Its flowers are borne where the older leaves join the stem and directly on old wood.
Source: Useful Tropical Plants database (Fern, K.).
Bark and fruit-rind used for respiratory infections; twigs used as chew-sticks for oral hygiene; also applied to wounds and high blood pressure in Eastern Nigeria.
The fruit pulp is eaten locally.
An understorey tree of Nigeria's southern forests.