Daniellia ogea

Daniellia ogea
	Specimen of gum copal tree (Daniellia ogea) collected at Kakum National Park (Assin Atandanso; though documented so, the coordinates indicate Aburi Botanical Gardens), Ghana.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Genus:	Daniellia
Species:	D. ogea
Binomial name
	Daniellia ogea; (Harms) Rolfe ex Holland

Daniellia ogea is a species of tree that belongs to the family Fabaceae. It is also known locally as the gum copal tree, the Benin copal, or the Accra copal, and it is traded under the name Faro.^[1]

Description

Daniellia ogea is a large emergent species that is capable of reaching 45 m (148 ft) tall and a diameter of more than 120 cm (47 in) wide, its bark is distinctively striate or warty and greyish in color with a slash that is brownish.^[2] The trunk is cylindrical and straight and the glabrous stems have transverse scars of falling off stipules and bud scales.^[2] Leaves are paripinnately compound, alternate and with stipules and petioles present, the former sheds when young.^[2] Leaflets are broadly lanceolate to elliptic in shape, up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long and 3.5 cm (1.4 in) wide with a base that is rounded to cuneate and an apex that is acuminate and margins that are entire. Purple like flowers are borne on pedicels in axillary or terminal panicles.^[2] Fruit is a papery pod that is up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long and 4 cm (1.6 in) wide.

Distribution and habitat

It occurs in tropical western Africa from Senegal to Gabon. It is found in evergreen and moist semi-deciduous forest zones, in rocky slopes or well drained valleys.^[3]

Uses

Gum obtained from the wood is used is applied in various uses such as a protective coating, as a fragrant for clothes and also as a cosmetic ointment.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Louppe, Dominique, ed. (2008). Plant resources of tropical Africa. 7,1: Timbers: 1 / ed.: D. Louppe; A. A. Oteng-Amoako. General ed.: R. H. M. J. Lemmens. Weikersheim: Margraf. p. 274. ISBN 978-90-5782-209-4.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Voorhoeve, A. G. (1965). Liberian high forest trees : a systematic botanical study of the 75 most important or frequent high forest trees, with reference to numerous related species (PhD thesis). Wageningen University.
^ Poorter, Lourens; Bongers, Frans; Kouamé, François N'; Hawthorne, William D., eds. (2004). Biodiversity of West African forests: an ecological atlas of woody plant species. Wallingford: CABI. p. 407. ISBN 978-0-85199-734-6.

[:0-1] Louppe, Dominique, ed. (2008). Plant resources of tropical Africa. 7,1: Timbers: 1 / ed.: D. Louppe; A. A. Oteng-Amoako. General ed.: R. H. M. J. Lemmens. Weikersheim: Margraf. p. 274. ISBN 978-90-5782-209-4.

[:1-2] Voorhoeve, A. G. (1965). Liberian high forest trees : a systematic botanical study of the 75 most important or frequent high forest trees, with reference to numerous related species (PhD thesis). Wageningen University.

[3] Poorter, Lourens; Bongers, Frans; Kouamé, François N'; Hawthorne, William D., eds. (2004). Biodiversity of West African forests: an ecological atlas of woody plant species. Wallingford: CABI. p. 407. ISBN 978-0-85199-734-6.

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