Erythroxylum mannii
Common
Large tree, common in secondary and dry forest, to 1.0 m dbh, 30 m tall. Flowers bisexual, fruits small, animal-dispersed, seeds usually solitary. Sometimes harvested for timber, wood soft, density 0.6-0.7, trade name landa
Upper and Lower Guinea
The tree is a general construction-timber, and is considered suitable in Cameroun and in Gabon for furniture-manufacture and cabinetry, though in Ghana and in Sierra Leone it carries pith-flecks which make it unsightly. It is however considered usable in Ghana for veneers and plywood. The heart-wood may sometimes be brittle. In Sierra Leone it is a popular firewood. In Ivory Coast the bark, taken from the east and west sides of the stem in a cryptic relic of sun-worship, is pulped with citron and maleguetta pepper for use in frictions for intercostal pains and pleurisy. A decoction of leafy twigs is reputed to be febrifugal. Traces of alkaloid have been recorded in the plant.