Antiaris

Appearance

''Antiaris toxicaria'' is monoecious. It is a large tree, growing to 25–40 m tall, with a trunk up to 40 cm diameter, often buttressed at the base, with pale grey bark. The leaves are elliptic to obovate, 7–19 cm long and 3–6 cm broad.

The African tree bears larger fruit than Asian and Polynesian populations. The Javanese ''Antiaris toxicaria'' flowers in June. In Kenya peak seeding time is March. The fruit is a red or purple drupe 2 cm in diameter. This soft, edible fruit is dispersed by birds, bats, possums monkeys, deer, antelopes and humans. The tree grows rapidly and attains maturity within 20 years.

Naming

The name antiaris is derived directly from the Javanese language name for it: ''ancar'' .
There are several other botanical names : ''Antiaris africana Engl.'', the ''Antiaris macrophylla R.Br.'' and the ''Antiaris welwitschii Engl.''.

Commonly used local names include: In English it may be called bark cloth tree, antiaris, false iroko, false mvule or upas tree. In the Javanese language it is known as the ''upas'' or ''ancar'', in the Indonesian language as ''bemu''. In the related languages of the Philippines Filipino ''upas'', and Malaysia Malaysian as ''Ipoh'' or ''ancar''. In Thai it is the ''yangyong''. In Mandinka, it is the ''jafo'' and in Wolof the ''kan'' or ''man''.

The Chinese of Hainan Island, refer to the tree as the "Poison Arrow Tree" because its latex was smeared on arrowheads in ancient times by the Li people for use in hunting and warfare.

Distribution

The ''Antiaris'' tree is found in grassy savanna and coastal plateaus. In Africa, there are three varieties clearly distinguished by habitat and their juvenile forms. One is confined mainly to wooded grassland, the other two are found in wet forests; rainforest, riverine forest and semi-swamp forests.
It generally does not grow at altitudes above some 1500 metres above sea-level.

Uses

''Antiaris toxicaria'' is a fairly small-scale source of timber and yields a lightweight hardwood with density of 250-540 kilogram per cubic metre . As the wood peels very easily and evenly, it is commonly used for veneer.
The bark has a high concentration of tannins that are used in traditional clothes dyeing and paints.

The fruit is edible, and birds, bats and humans that eat it spread the seeds.

In Javanese traditional medicine, the leaves and root are used to treat mental illness. In Africa and various parts of Asia, seed, leaves and bark are used as astringents and the seeds as a treatment for dysentery.

In Africa and Polynesia the bast fibre is harvested and is used in preparing strong, coarse bark cloth for clothing. The clothes often are decorated with the dye produced from the bark tannins.

''Antiaris toxicaria'' is an excellent, fast-growing shade tree and often is grown around human dwellings for shade. The leaf litter is an excellent compost material and high in nutrients. It often is applied as mulch or green manure in local gardens, which however, must be grown beyond the shade of the extremely dense canopy of the tree.

Recently, the plant had allegedly been used by retired Tanzanian pastor Ambilikile Mwasapile to allegedly cure all manner of diseases, including HIV/AIDS, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, asthma, and others. While found to be harmless to humans when boiled in accordance with Mwasapile's mode of creating a medicinal drink out of the bark, it allegedly was undergoing testing by the WHO and Tanzanian health authorities to verify whether it has any medicinal value. However, conflicting reports suggest that the plant in question is not in fact ''Antiaris'', but rather ''Carissa edulis''.