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Erythrophleum suaveolens
Also called Forest ordeal tree, Ordeal Tree, Erun, Red Water Tree, Sasswoodtree, Sassy Bark Tree, Sassybark
In Singapore: Ordeal Tree, Red Water Tree, Sasswood, Sassy Bark (Cultivated in Singapore)
2 NParks heritage trees in Singapore: Found in Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Orchid Garden Nursery; Found in Upper Seletar Reservoir Park, on slope behind carpark along Mandai Rd.
Erythrophleum suaveolens is a tall tropical African tree, up to about 20 m, with rough blackish bark and creamy-yellow flowers, known as sasswood or the ordeal tree. It is a forest timber tree rather than a garden plant, so care notes apply only to rare cultivation.
Erythrophleum suaveolens, also known as the ordeal tree, is a species of flowering plant that can be found across most of tropical Africa. The species are up to 20 metres (70 ft) in height, and have a rough and blackish bark. The plants leaves have 2–3 pairs of pinnae, which carry 7–13 leaflets. The leaflets are 5 by 2.5 centimetres (2 in × 1 in), are green coloured and ovate. The flowers have fluffy spikes, and are creamy-yellow coloured. Fruits are hard, the pod of which is flat.
The bark of the tree has been used in Liberia to make a toxic concoction used for a form of trial by ordeal called "sassywood". This use has given it the common name of the "Ordeal Tree".
African Blackwood · Cooktown Ironwood · Erythrophleum couminga · Erythrophleum fordii · Ordealtree
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Erythrophleum suaveolens 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.
