Brucea antidysenterica benefits

 Brucea antidysenterica is a monoecious shrub or small tree growing up to 7 metres tall, The plant is commonly used in traditional medicine, being harvested from wild plants.

 Taste

The fruit is bitter and reportedly toxic to livestock, especially sheep, Crystals of calcium oxalate are present in the bark, leaves and roots.

Location

Tropical Africa - Guinea and Nigeria east to Ethiopia and south to Angola, Malawi and Zambia

In the lower storeys of evergreen forest and often as secondary growth in deforested areas or at forest edge, Montane forests, forest margins and secondary vegetation, most frequently at elevations of 1,750 - 2,500 metre.

The plant grows at moderate elevations, usually to 2,500 metres but exceptionally to 3,700 metres in the moister tropics of Africa,Vegetative growth, flowering and fruiting continue throughout the year, even in the dry season

Brucea antidysenterica has been recorded as a host plant of the Mediterranean fruit fly, a major pest of the fruit industry.

Medicinal use

As its name suggests, the plant is of value in traditional medicine for the treatment of dysentery. Modern research has confirmed this action and also highlighted other potential uses of the plant.

- The leaves and stem bark contain quanninoids and canthin alkaloids that have potent anticancer properties, and these have attracted much research attention in recent decades.

- In addition to their antineoplastic activity, many compounds present in the plant are highly effective against the dysentery-causing amoeba, Entamoeba histolytica, and the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

- The bark, fruit and roots are widely used against dysentery, as an anthelmintic and to treat fever.

- The bark, fruit, seeds, leaves and roots (sometimes boiled) are used as a remedy for diarrhoea, indigestion and stomach-ache.

- The leaves and roots are cooked with meat, or infused with milk (for children) to relieve asthma.

- Wounds and skin complaints, such as those caused by leprosy and scrofula, are treated with ointments made from the leaves and twigs mixed with ghee or butter, or from the ripe fruits mixed with honey.