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The Wild Almond (Sterculia foetida) is a tall, straight, noble tree,
transcendent in the fresh, full leafage of March and April.The grey
bark is smooth, spotted with brown and faintly ridged. At certain
times of the year patches of bark loosen and fall away, which
impairs the appearance of the tree. The branches are whorled and
usually horizontal, the numerous branchlets gracefully up-curved and
crowded at the ends with large, digitate leaves.The flowers,
however, bear no resemblance at all to this tree. Appearing early in
February, they form at the knotty ends of the wrinkled old
branchlets immediately beneath the new leaves and spread in drooping
rays as much as one foot in length. The reddish-green stems bear
numerous short branched stalks, each terminating in a crimson-brown
flower. Coming across a Wild Almond in bloom ones first thoughts
would be that one was near an open sewer and any part of the tree
when bruised or cut emits this unpleasant odour.
Medical use: Leaves and bark have considerable medicinal value; in
Ghana, seeds are taken as a purgative. Oil from the seed is
extracted on a local scale to be used in medicine. |
