A savanna shrub or small tree in the quassia family, with bitter bark and wood (Quassia undulata, formerly Hannoa undulata).
Quassia undulata (formerly Hannoa undulata, family Simaroubaceae) is very variable, from a shrub to a small or fairly large tree with a high crown, usually evergreen and 6 to 8 metres tall, sometimes 12 metres, with a trunk up to 50 cm across. It is a traditional medicinal plant in Africa and is also used for food, timber, oil and insecticide, and it is sometimes grown as an ornamental. The seed is said to be poisonous to livestock but loses its toxicity when dried.
It grows from Senegal east to Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, in open and wooded grassland, thickets and mountain grassland up to 2,500 metres. It needs sun, so it regenerates better in savanna than in forest, soon colonising clearings and old farmland. It grows fast: five-year-old saplings averaged 4.1 metres. It tolerates fire and can be coppiced and pollarded. Its buoyant seeds are probably spread by animals and water; they lose viability quickly, so they are sown at once and germinate in 6 to 22 days, and seedlings are ready to plant out at about 14 months.
Source: Useful Tropical Plants database (Fern, K.).
Bark, twig, and root preparations are used across West Africa for fever, stomach troubles, liver ailments, eye problems, leprosy, and convulsions; the bitter extracts have documented antimicrobial and insect-repelling properties.
A wild savanna shrub/tree of the Guinean and Sudanian vegetation zones.