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Daniellia oliveri
Also called African Copaiba Balsamtree, Ilorin Balsam, West African Copal, West African Gum Copal
Daniellia oliveri is a medium-sized deciduous tree from tropical West and Central Africa, grown mainly for timber, gum and forest regeneration rather than as an ornamental. It is a species, not a houseplant, and is grown outdoors in seasonally dry savanna-type climates.
Daniellia oliveri is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to tropical West and Central Africa and is commonly known as the African copaiba balsam tree, or the West African copal tree.
Daniellia oliveri is found in tropical West and Central Africa, its range extending from Senegal to Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a typical constituent of the forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion and grows in wooded savannas, where it is often the largest tree.
The wood is used for such purposes as flooring, joinery, furniture, boatbuilding, cattle troughs and drums, but the timber exudes too much gum for high quality joinery and carving. It is also used for firewood and for charcoal manufacture. Long strips of the bark are used to make beehives. The gum produces a fragrant smoke when burned and is used to make torches and incense, and to fumigate houses. The powdered gum is used to make cloth shiny and to create a varnish for furniture.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Daniellia oliveri by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
