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Pachylobus edulis
Also called Eben Tree
Dacryodes edulis is an evergreen fruit tree from west-central Africa, grown for its edible blue-skinned fruit called safou or African pear. It thrives in warm, humid, shady tropical conditions and is typically kept under 12 m when cultivated.
Dacryodes edulis is a species of fruit tree in the family Burseraceae native to west-central Sub-Saharan Africa, known primarily for its edible fruit, which is both gathered from the wild and grown on plantations. Its various regional common names include safou (Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola), messa, plum (Cameroon), atanga (Equatorial Guinea and Gabon), ube, elumi/rukuki (Nigeria), African pear, bush pear, African plum, nsafu, bush butter tree, and butterfruit, among others.
D. edulis (Safou) prefers shady, humid tropical forests in the wild. However, it adapts well to variations in soil type, humidity, temperature and day length. It therefore has a very large natural range, extending from Angola in the south to Nigeria and Sierra Leone in the northwest and Uganda in the northeast. It is also cultivated in Malaysia.
The value of D. edulis to humans comes primarily from its use as a food source. It has the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dacryodes edulis 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.
