Peltophorum pterocarpum (DC.) Hayne

Leguminosae

Synonyms

• Peltophorum ferrugineum Benth.

Common names

Copperpod, Golden flamboyant, Yellow poinciana

Description

Tree, up to 24 m high with a dense, spreading, deep seated crown. Growth reasonably fast [8 m in height and 20 cm in diameter in Dakar (MAR 550 mm) in 10 years]. Leaves pubescent ferrugineous-reddish, foliage persistent year-round. Leaves paripinnate with many leaflets 2 cm x 4-6 mm. Inflorescences in panicles of terminal spikes of yellow flowers opening in August. Pods reddish-brown, relatively small, thin, flat, ovate, thinned on the margins, indehiscent, maturing in November. There are ca 12,000 seeds per kg.

Water

Deep rooted and behaving as an obligate phreatophyte when planted in the Sahel.

Distribution

P. pterocarpum originating in India and South East Asia, introduced to Senegal in 1944, and earlier to West Africa and other tropical countries.

Propagation

Propagation by seeds (slow), cuttings or branch stakes.

Products & uses

Shade tree on streets and roadsides or cover for cash crops in the humid tropics. Also grown as an  ornamental. Sap wood soft and light, not durable and of little use, heartwood red, hard and strong. Good for carpentry, construction and cartwright's work. Bark contains some 20 % tannins, giving a light yellow color to leather, tannins also present in leaves and wood. Medicinal uses : bark for dysentry, tooth powder, eye lotion, embrocation for pains and sores ; the bark gives a dye of a yellow color. Foliage consumed by cattle, contains up to 54 % CP on the DM, pods also sometimes consumed.

References

Giffard 1974a ; Aubréville 1950 ;  Dalziel 1955 ; Berhaut 1975 ; Burkill 1995