Prunus africana: a monograph

122 Pages·2002·2.28 MB·English

PRUNUS
AFRICANA

A MONOGRAPH

PRUNUS AFRICANA

A MONOGRAPH

Edited by John B. Hall, Eileen M. O'Brien, and Fergus L. Sinclair

School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences,
University of Wales, Bangor, U.K.

2000
Cite as: Hall, J.B., O'Brien, E.M., Sinclair, F.L. 2000. Prunus africana: a monograph.
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences Publication Number 18, University
of Wales, Bangor. 104 pp.

ISSN: 0962-7766
ISBN: 1 84220 048 8
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences Publication Number: 18

© 2000 University of Wales, Bangor. All rights reserved.

Front cover: Prunus africana bark collectors emerging from the forest in Madagascar (Ian Dawson).
Back cover: Distribution of Prunus africana. Sources of distribution data: collecting localities noted on
voucher specimens held in various herbaria, supplemented by specimen localities noted in literature (cited
in text). Herbaria: Royal Botanic Garden, Kew (RBG); Laboratoire de Phanérogamie MNHN, Paris (P);
National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Brussels (BR); Natural History Museum, London (BM); Daubeny
Herbarium, Oxford (FHO); Kenya National Herbarium, Nairobi (NMK); Missouri Botanical Garden, St.
Louis (MO). Note: Map extent is 20o W to 60o E, 38o N to 35o S. Map scale is 1:53,000,000. Dot
resolution is 2200 km2. Dot frequency reflects collecting intensity, not population density.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We acknowledge the help and cooperation that staff members at various herbaria offered to
Dr Eileen O' Brien, especially Prof. Philippe Morat and René Darrieulat, Herbier-Muséum
National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Dr Steve Harris and Mrs Alison Strugnell, Daubeny
Herbarium, Oxford; Dr Roy Vickery, Natural History Museum, London; Dr Daniella Zappi,
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; and Prof. Elmar Robbrecht and Dr Dominique Champluvier,
National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Brussels. We also acknowledge herbarium specimen
data obtained from on-line databases: TROPICOS (Missouri Botanical Garden, USA). We
thank Dr Gerald Pope, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for clarification of the status of material
collected by Sir John Kirk and also Jim Chapman, earlier of the Nigerian Forest Service, for
allowing us access to unpublished documents. We also thank Mme Rabodo Andriantsiferana
of "Centre d'Application des Recherches Pharmaceutiques", Mr Andriamannandratra A.
Nomenjanabary and Mme Raharimaniraka Lydie Norohanta of "Ministère des Eaux et Forêts,
and Philippe Ravelomanatsoa of SODIP for providing information on Madagascar.

Dr Michelle Jones, Karen Cooper and Emma Youde, School of Agricultural and Forest
Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, have provided extensive office support and organized
the final document. Dr Jeremy Williams, using the School’s Geographic Information Systems
facility, prepared the maps. Dr Pat Denne, Dr Mike Hale and Val Whitbread assisted in the
production and interpretation of the wood micrographs. Dr Callum Hill commented upon the
pharmaceutical products chapter.

This publication is an output from a research project funded by the United Kingdom
Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID. R7227, Forestry Research
Programme.

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FOREWORD

The stimulus for devoting a monographic study to Prunus africana, the African cherry, a
source of bark extractives for the pharmaceutical industry, was its listing as a potentially
threatened species under CITES regulations. When the case was made for inclusion in CITES
Appendix II, little information on the species was readily available for evaluating its status or
planning management and domestication. This monograph fills this need by reporting the
current state of knowledge as the outcome of an in-depth review of the many widely scattered
references to the species, in eight principal chapters covering not only conventional
descriptive information (such as ecology, biology and wood) but also topical issues
surrounding its conservation and sustainable exploitation (conservation and policy).

This is the fifth multipurpose tree monograph produced at the School of Agricultural and
Forest Sciences of the University of Wales, Bangor, with funding from the Forestry Research
Programme of the UK Department for International Development. Previous monographs have
covered economically important dryland trees. This is the first to focus on a forest tree and is,
more significantly, the first where Bangor has enjoyed major collaboration with external
colleagues in writing the monograph - from the International Centre for Research in
Agroforestry, Nairobi, Kenya and the Mount Cameroon Project, Limbe, Cameroon.
Colleagues in Kenya, Cameroon and Madagascar have produced extension materials and
organised dissemination events on Prunus africana linked to the monograph. These
extension materials and activities complement the monograph and are making a difference in
some of the rural communities for which Prunus africana is a valuable asset.

Fergus L. Sinclair
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences
University of Wales, Bangor

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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Name Institution
Mr Christian Asanga Birdlife International, BP 119, Kumbo, Bui Division, Northwest Province,
Cameroon.
Tel: + 237 362 193
Email: [email protected]
Dr Ian Dawson International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, Domestication of
Agroforestry Trees Programme, PO Box 30677, Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel: + 254 2 524000, Fax: + 254 2 524001
Email: [email protected]
Mr Bruno Ewusi Mount Cameroon Project, Limbe Botanic Garden, BP 437, Limbe,
Southwest Province, Cameroon.
Tel: + 237 33 2620, Fax: + 237 33 2834
Email: [email protected]
Dr John B. Hall School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor,
LL57 2UW, UK.
Tel: + 44 1248 382281, Fax: + 44 1248 382832
Email: [email protected]
Dr Hannah Jaenicke International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, Domestication of
Agroforestry Trees Programme.
Email: [email protected]
Mr Ard Lengkeek International Centre for Research in Agroforestry.
Email: [email protected]
Mr Moses Munjuga International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, Domestication of
Agroforestry Trees Programme.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Nouhou Ndam Mount Cameroon Project, Limbe Botanic Garden.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Eileen M. O'Brien School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor.
Email: [email protected]
Mr Stephan Ruigu KEFRI/KARI/ICRAF Agroforestry Research Project, PO Box 25199,
Otonglo, Kisumu, Kenya.
Tel: + 254 35 51245, Fax: + 254 35 51592
Email: [email protected]
Dr Tony Simons International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, Domestication of
Agroforestry Trees Programme.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Fergus L. Sinclair School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Z. Tchoundjeu International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, Domestication of
Agroforestry Trees Programme, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Email: [email protected]
Dr James Were International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, Domestication of
Agroforestry Trees Programme. Nairobi, Kenya
Email: [email protected]

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