ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of African Walnut. The fruits, sold in Cameroon markets, have agreeably edible kernels, resembling hazelnuts or chestnuts. They are eaten fresh, boiled in the shell, roasted, boiled, and pounded and made into cakes. The timber is red to reddish-brown, close-grained, hard, heavy, resistant to water, and immune to insects, for example, termites, through liable to split. The stomachic bark decoction is used for dysentery in Liberia. Powdered bark is used in Equatorial Africa for dressing sores, and in decoctions to stimulate appetite and counteract anemia, or in enemas for dysentery. Liberians believe the fruits eliminate boils. Wood can cause allergy or asthma in woodworkers. The wood is suitable for charcoal and it is so used in Gabon.
