Clusiaceae
Pentadesma

Pentadesma butyracea Sabine

First published in Trans. Hort. Soc. London 5: 457 (1824)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is W. & W. Central Tropical Africa. It is a tree and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Guttiferae, P. Bamps, N. Robson & B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1978

Note
Has been cultivated, e.g. Tanzania,Lushoto District:Siri Plantation SC7, 7 Mar. 1932, Greenway 2939 ! & Uganda, Entebbe Botanic Garden fide Dale, Introd. Trees Uganda:54 (1953).
Distribution
It is a W. African and Zaire species.
Morphology General Habit
Large tree to 35 m.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers in racemiform cymes, petals glabrous on the inside, 5 stamen-fascicles, style simple and divided into 5 lobes, ovary 5-locular with 7–14 ovules in each locule.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Baccate fruits.
[FTEA]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/61988986/149003791

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Guttiferae, Hutchinson and Dalziel. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:1. 1954

Morphology General Habit
Forest tree, to 75 ft. high
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers white, cream or greenish-white. [N.B.—there is no evidence of their ever being red as stated in ed. 1]
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Sepals persistent at the base of the fruit
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds 3–10 embedded in a yellowish pulp.
Morphology General Exudate
The yellow latex from the incised bark dries like gamboge.
[FWTA]

Uses

Use
The wood is useful and the seeds yield a vegetable butter.
[FTEA]

Common Names

unknown
agyappa nuts, amut, kamoot butter, koma, lamy nuts, n'candica, soolet fat, sorlet nuts, sorli, tallow tree, waye

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images