Species of tree
Leaves of Canarium schweinfurthii
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Kingdom:
Plantae
Clade:
Tracheophytes
Clade:
Angiosperms
Clade:
Eudicots
Clade:
Rosids
Order:
Sapindales
Family:
Burseraceae
Genus:
Canarium
Species:
C. schweinfurthii
Canarium schweinfurthii
Engl.
Canarium schweinfurthii (commonly known as the bush candle, African olive, African elemi, or canarium), is a species of large tree native to tropical Africa. Names in many African languages are variations of mupafu.
Distribution and habitat
African elemi is found from the coast of Nigeria, Angola to Uganda.
Uses
The African elemi tree is one of several sources of the economically useful oleoresin known elemi. In West Africa this resin is traditionally burned for fumigating dwellings and mixed with oil for body paint.
African elemi bears edible fruit with a thick, dense, hard shell.
The hard stones of its fruit are used for traditional divination among Plateau speakers in the Middle Belt of central Nigeria.
Notes
^ IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group & Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) (2020). \"Canarium schweinfurthii\". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T61987649A156105770. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T61987649A156105770.en. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
^ \"Canarium scheinfurthii\". The Plant List. Retrieved 2016-09-26.
^ a b Blench, Roger (2006). Archaeology, language, and the African past. Altamira Press. ISBN 9780759104655.
^ ICRAF
^ H. 1906, p. 173.
^ a b c H. 1906, p. 172.
^ Mantell 1950, p. 233.
