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Leguminosae
Common names
Camwood.
Description
Shrubby tree growing to about 3 m on the Accra Plains, Ghana,
to about 10 m in the forests, with smooth branchlets and fragrant white
flowers with a yellow centre, usually one to four together.
Distribution
Native to west central Africa; occurs in Sierra Leone, Liberia,
Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Benin, southern Nigeria, the Republic of Cameroon,
Guinea, Gabon, Ghana and Zaire.
Characteristics
Favours moist seepage areas on the perimeters of termitaria
on plains. Not always associated with thickets. A secondary species in
forests; its frequency increases with rainfall. Grows easily from seeds
or cuttings. High palatability (rated 4 out of 5); browsed at any time
. Table 15.2 gives percentages of dry matter and its composition (Rose-Innes
and Mabey, 1964a).
The earliest dye wood (Camwood) was brought from West Africa. The source
of the dye, which is soluble in alkali, is the bark and heart of the tree.
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