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Mammea africana
Mammea africana is a medium to large forest tree from West and Central tropical Africa, sometimes called African mammee apple, grown mainly for its timber and occasionally for its fruit. It is rarely grown as a garden or house plant, and its care needs are based on its tropical forest habitat.
Mammea africana is a medium to large sized tree within the family Calophyllaceae. It is also known as the African mammee apple, and its timber is traded under the trade name "Oboto". Mammea africana is found in evergreen and semi deciduous forests in West and Central Tropical Africa.
The species was described by Joseph Sabine in 1827.
Test on stem bark extracts of Mammea africana identified the presence of coumarin derivatives many identified in Mammea americana, such as mammea A/AA, mammea B/BB and mammea A/AB, the compounds showed inhibitory effects on microbial activity but also indicated moderate cytotoxicity of a human cell line.
Mammea africana is native to west and central tropical Africa, ranging from Senegal to Angola and southwestern Uganda.
Extracts of the species are used to treat fever, stomach pains and skin infections such as scabies. Wood is used for local carpentry work, piling and joinery. The fruit is edible though fibrous, it is eaten by locals.
Mammee apple · Mammea glauca · Mammea grandifolia · Mammea immansueta · Mammea malayana · Mammea novoguineensis · Mammea papuana · Mammea papyracea · Mammea siamensis · Mammea suriga · Mammea timorensis · Mammea touriga
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mammea africana 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.
