POTENTIAL PRODUCTION AND UTILISATION OF OIL FROM

TRICHILIA SPP. (MELIACEAE) 1

I. M. GRUNDY AND B. M. CAMPBELL

Grundy, I. M. and B. M. Campbell (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Zimbabwe,

Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare Zimbabwe). POTENTIALPRODUCTIONANY UTILISATION
OF OIL FROM TRICmLIA SPP. (MELIACEAE).Economic Botany 47(2)148-153. 1993. Trichilia
emetica Vahl and T. dregeana Sonder are trees indigenous to Zimbabwe and are widely planted
for shade in urban areas. The seed of Trichilia contains oil concentrations as high as most oil-
rich dicotyledonous seeds and is a potential source of income for rural people. The seed production
of mature trees varies greatly from one year to the next, averaging 64.7 kg offresh seed per tree
annually in Harare. Fresh seed yields approximately 308 ml oil kg -1 (approximately 30%), using
a simple ram press. Trichilia oil produces a goodfinish on wooden surfaces and wouM compete
successfully with other commercial wood oils. No storage problems are envisagedfor either seed
or oil
Key Words: oil seed; Meliaceae; Trichilia; Zimbabwe.

Vegetable oils make up a major component o f
the world's agricultural production (Doty 1983).
Although through the ages they have largely been
utilised as a source o f edible oil, many oils are
also used in such items as lubricants, greases,
paints, soaps, l a m p oil and candles (Jones 1983).
In this era o f petrochemicals, vegetable oils still
play a significant role in the production o f non-
food materials (Princen 1982, 1983). The poten-
tial o f other oilseed sources from the countries
o f southern Africa needs to be investigated. In
this study we look at the potential o f local trees
o f the genus Trichilia (P. Browne) as a source o f
oil.
DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL
ECOLOGY
The genus Trichilia is a m e m b e r o f the Meli-
aceae family. Fourteen species are found in Af-
rica, three o f which occur in Zimbabwe. Only
two o f these produce seeds with a high oil con-
tent; T. dregeana Sonder (forest or white ma-
hogany) and T. ernetica Vahl (Natal mahogany).
There are two subspecies o f T. emetica, but only
the subspecies emetica is found in southern Af-
rica.
Received 20 April 199 l; accepted 15 November
1992.
The two species are difficult to tell apart and
are often confused in herbarium specimens. They
differ in ecology and in several taxonomic char-
acters, such as the shape and hairiness o f the leaf,
the leaf venation and the fruit stalk (Coates-Pal-
grave 1984). Both are m e d i u m to tall evergreen
trees, although T. dregeana is usually taller,
growing to a m a x i m u m height o f 40 m. The leaves
are compound, imparipinnate, with large dark
green leaflets o f up to 21 x 8.5 cm. Trichilia spp.
are dioecious. The fruit is a leathery, rounded,
brown capsule which splits to release the seeds
which are almost completely covered by a red
aril. The fruit o f T. emetica is the smaller o f the
two species. It is pear-shaped, with a long stipe,
and bears only 2 to 3 seeds. Trichilia dregeana
has capsules without a stipe which contain 3 to
4 seeds.
Trichilia dregeana is the rarer o f the two spe-
cies, found in mid-altitude, high-rainfall forests
o f the eastern highlands. Trichilia emetica is fre-
quent along rivers in low-altitude areas, being a
species o f warm and frost-free areas with low
rainfall (von Breitenbach 1965). It is rarely found
away from water (yon Breitenbach 1965), and
grows best on deep, moist, heavy soils (FAO
1983). Table 1 indicates the densities o f natu-
rally-growing mature trees in Zimbabwe. Both
species are c o m m o n l y planted as a shade and

Economic Botany 47(2) pp. 148-153. 1993

9 1993, by The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458 U.S.A.
1993] GRUNDY & CAMPBELL: TRICHILIA OIL, ZIMBABWE 149

avenue tree, however those in Zimbabwe are TABLE 1. D E N S I T I E S O F M A T U R E T R E E S O F TRI-

mostly a variety o f T. dregeana. A survey o f the CHILIA SPP. I N Z I M B A B W E .
numbers o f planted trees in Harare gave well
Den-
over 500 trees. sity I
(trees
Species Location Source ha- I)
TRADITIONAL U S E S
SEEDS T. emetica Sengwa River Coulson, pers. 9.0
comm.
The seeds o f both T. dregeana and T. emetica Victoria Falls Langman, 1978 3.0
are edible, and before the arrival o f Europeans Lower Save Campbell, pers. 4.5
in eastern and Central Africa, they were an im- obs.
portant source ofoil. The bitter testa is poisonous Middle Save Present survey 3.6
and is removed by soaking before eating the seed. Middle Save Present survey 11.6
The liquid resulting from soaking seeds without Mana Pools Present survey 10.0
testas m a y be used when making porridge, whilst Mean 7.0
the cooked crushed seeds m a y be mixed with
T. dregeana Chirinda Forest Muller, pers. 4-16
maize meal during cooking. Crushed seeds are Mean comm. 10.0
also mixed with vegetable relishes (Tredgold
I The effective density for oil production is half the actual density, as
1986; Williamson 1974). The oil, although bitter,
half the population of mature trees will be non-fruiting male trees.
can be used for cooking, as well as for soap-
making and for annointing the hair and body
(Jamieson 1916; Williamson 1974; pers. obs.).
The oil can also be rubbed into cuts made on a be used as a soothing lotion on bruises or as a
fractured limb in order to hasten healing, taken cough m i x t u r e ( C o a t e s - P a l g r a v e 1984). T h e
i n t e r n a l l y for r h e u m a t i s m ( C o a t e s - P a l g r a v e leaves are an important source o f browse for
1984), and is one o f the ingredients used in a wildlife and goats.
leprosy remedy (Jamieson 1916). The pulp left
ESTABLISHMENT AND G R O W T H
after crushing can be made into candles (Wil-
liamson 1974), or used as fertiliser (pers. obs.). Trichilia dregeana is easily cultivated (Muller,
The scarlet arils m a y be eaten or crushed to ex- pers. comm.), both from seeds and cuttings.
tract a milky juice which is used as a sweet drink However, the seed must be sown when fresh
or as a sauce on side dishes (Tredgold 1986; pers. (Chionsky 1990; F A O 1983). Seeds germinate
obs.). more quickly and uniformly if the oily aril and
testa are removed (Chionsky 1990). G e r m i n a -
WOOD tion rate is low (5.6%) with only about 50 seed-
The wood o f both species is pinkish brown, lings kg ~ o f fresh seed becoming established in
open-grained and light. It is not durable, es- the seed beds. The seedlings are transplanted af-
pecially when left exposed, but submersion in ter three months. After transplantation, the pot-
running water for three weeks after cutting is said ted stock needs to be lightly shaded and watered
to have a preservative effect. It works well and twice per day. The young plants can be planted
takes a good polish, but is susceptible to borer out after 8 to 12 months. Still better results are
attack (Tredgold 1986). It is carved into house- obtained from rooted cuttings which should be
hold utensils and furniture and is also used for taken from year-old coppice shoots o f young trees,
dugout canoes and shelving (Coates-Palgrave especially felled for that purpose (von Breiten-
1984). bach 1965).
In a moist area with rich soil, the plants are
BARK extremely fast-growing. Von Breitenbach (1965)
A n infusion o f the bark o f T. emetica is used suggests that an annual increment in height o f 1
as an emetic (from which the tree gets its name) m is possible. F r o m our sample o f 50 known-
or as an enema (Coates-Palgrave 1984). aged individuals, we found that rates o f growth
are seldom that fast, being on average only 0.5
LEAVES m year -l, with a m a x i m u m o f 0.7 m year -~. O f
The leaves are said to induce sleep when placed all the indigenous tree species, T. dregeana is one
in one's bed at night, and a hot leaf-infusion m a y o f the few that has been widely planted, an in-
150 ECONOMIC BOTANY
Fig. 1, The phenology of 30 Trichilia dregeana trees in Harare.
dication that growth rates are adequate. This spe-
cies has also been used in reafforestation pro-
grammes (FAO 1986).
The species tolerates slight frost but should be
protected when young (yon Breitenbach 1965).
The slow growth rates o f the 32-year-old trees
that we have investigated are due to the harsh
annual frosts. The young plants are said to be
sensitive to weeds, and unweeded trees tend to
be stunted.
PI-IENOLOGY AND SEED CROP
According to Coates-Palgrave (I 984), T. eme-
tica drops its fruit :from December to March,
whilst those o f T. dregeana fall from January to
May. The phenological status o f 30 T. dregeana
trees in Harare, all o f reproductive age but a
variety o f sizes, was recorded over a 12-month
period, Every m o n t h each tree was assigned to
one o f ten phenological states. Flowering in the
Harare population was found to take place from
September to December. Thereafter the fruit de-
velops, with the earliest fruit fall taking place in
[VOL. 47
May. M a x i m u m fruit fall takes place from July
to September (Fig. 1).
Muller (pers. comm.) has found that trees
planted in the open start fruiting after about 10
years, while those planted in more shaded con-
ditions in a forest-like environment have not yet
fruited after 20 years. Von Breitenbach (1965)
suggests that full seed crops can be expected after
15 years. F r o m our sample o f known-aged trees,
the youngest reproductive trees were 11 to 13
years old.
As trees increase in girth, size o f seed crop
increases. Von Breitenbach (1965) records a full
seed crop as being about 45 kg o f fresh seed
a n n u m -1 tree -1, but on occasions, yields o f up to
180 kg m a y be expected from mature trees. Trees
in M o z a m b i q u e produced 20--25 kg o f fresh seed
tree -~, averaged over a 14-year period (Deveza
1968). Our data from 1989 show yields o f fresh
seed o f between 12 and 190 kg from mature trees,
averaging 64.7 kg tree -~ (n = 13) (Table 2). With
an average o f 917 seeds kg- 1, this gives total crop
numbers o f between 10 900 and 174 200 seeds,
1993] GRUNDY & CAMPBELL: TRICHILIA OIL, ZIMBABWE 151

averaging 59 300 seeds. There are some years TABLE 2. SEEDPRODUCTIONOF T. DREGEANA IN
when little seed is produced, and others when 1989.1
production is a b u n d a n t (FAO 1986). Trees in
Whole Aril
Harare which have produced heavily one year seed removed
appear to produce very little seed the following
Mean number of seed
year.
produced in one season 59 300
Mean number of seeds kg- 1 917
O I L PROPERTIES
Mean fresh wt of one seed (g) 1.09 0.79
The properties of oil extracted from Trichilia Mean wt of seed produced
seed are shown in Table 3. The analytical data in one season (kg fresh wt) 64.67 47.02
show that the oil is a triglyceride and does not
In = 13trees.
contain higher alcohols. It is therefore not a wax.
Because of its melting point of 30~ it can be
called a fat. At ordinary temperatures the fat is TO test the feasibility of Trichilia oil as a wood
solid, melting to a brownish oil with a charac- polish, we conducted the following market re-
teristic but not unpleasant smell, and a bitter search: Four 10 x 5 cm samples of wood from
taste. The oil content of the seed (55-65%) is 10 tree species (Fig. 2) were obtained, with one
higher than that of most commercially grown sample for each species being treated with Tri-
oilseeds, e.g. linseed contains 38% oil, while pea- chilia oil. The other three samples were treated
nut and sunflower seeds contain 40-55% oil. with "Linseed," " W o o d " and "Teak" oil, which
are commercially available oils for wood-polish-
POTENTIAL U S E S OF ing. The treatments were randomly assigned to
TRICHILIA SEED samples. The oils were applied to the woods four
Because of its oleic acid content of 50.6%, Tri- times over as m a n y days, with a polishing on the
chilia oil is potentially useful in the soap-making fifth day. One day thereafter, respondents were
and cosmetic industries, and for carpentry. Of asked to rank the samples from each species in
all the industrial development possibilities, the order of preference with respect to finish. Nine
production of various soaps from Trichilia oil is respondents ranked the samples. A second ap-
the most feasible at present. The oil is still used plication of oil, identical to the first, was given
in the soap industry in Mozambique (see also to the samples and the ranking procedure was
Deveza 1968) and was at one time economically repeated with 10 new respondents.
important in both Malawi and Tanzania (Wil- Trichilia oil performed differently on the dif-
liamson 1974). The use of Trichilia oil in soap ferent woods (Kruskal-WaUis, • = 18.0; P =
manufacture could result in the replacement of <0.05). For example, Trichilia oil was best on
edible oils used for this purpose at present. Be-
cause it is an oil with a low iodine value, it could
not compete with drying oils like linseed oil used TABLE 3. PHYSICALAND CHEMICALPROPERTIES
in the paint industry. The development of an OF TRICHILIA OIL.
efficient method for removing the bitter testa Properties Concentrations sourceI
could increase its potential as a food oll and food
supplement in rural areas. The seed residues are Oil content (%) 55-65 3
used as fertiliser in Mozambique, which at one Oleic acid (%) 51 1
Palmitic acid (%) 34 1
time exported this product to South Africa (De-
Linoleic acid (%) 11 1
veza 1968). Stearic acid (%) 3 1
Because it may be toxic, there are conflicting Linolenic acid (%) 1 1
reports in the literature about the potential use Melting point (*C) 30 2
of the seedcake as a stock feed. Further inves- Specific gravity @40"C 0.9114 2
tigation of this problem is required. Protein con- Saponification equiv. 201 2
tent of the seedcake, 13%, is low compared to Iodine value 67.3 2
other feed obtained from oilseed, e.g., peanut Acid value 0.008 2
30%, sunflower 27% (Lusas 1983), and its low Reichert-Meissel value 3.1 2
nitrogen content makes it a poor manure (FAO Polenske value 3.3 2
1983). I Source: 1= thisstudy;2 = Jamieson1916;3 = FAO 1986.
152 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 47

Fig. 2. The finish produced by Trichilia oil on different wooden surfaces compared with that of other
commercially available wood oils ('Teak', 'Linseed' and 'Wood'). The woods on which the oils were tested were:
Pterocarpus angolensis, Ficus exasperata, Uapaca kirkiana, Colophospermum mopane, Kirkia acuminata, Pinus
patula, Craibia brevicaudata, Baikiaea plurijuga and Guibortia coleosperma.

Acacia polyacantha, Ficus, pine and Craibia (Fig.
2). At the second application Trichilia oil ranked
better than at the first (Mann-Whitney, z = - 3.5;
P < 0.05), which indicates that the finish from
Trichilia oil improves with application. Overall,
there was a significant difference among oils
(Kruskal-Wallis, X2 -- 124; P < 0.001). Trichilia
gave the best result, followed by " T e a k " oil.
"Linseed" oil and " W o o d " gave roughly similar
results (Fig. 2). Thus Trichilia oil would be com-
petitive with the other commercial oils presently
available.
POTENTIAL PRODUCTION
SYSTEMS
With a simple hand-operated ram press, oil
yields o f 308 ml or 291 g kg -~ o f fresh seed were
obtained. Despite the inefficiency o f the press, it
can be seen that the seed yields considerable
quantities o f oil, approximately 30% by weight.
Because o f the large number o f seeds on a single
tree, the average oil yield from one tree is nearly
20 litres.
The seed is reported to be perishable (FAO
1986; von Breitenbach 1965). In personal ex-
perience, seed stored fresh was found to be sus-
ceptible to heavy fungal attack, as well as to seed
borers. The seed was only damaged on the sur-
face, however, and our oil samples were taken
from seed which had been stored in bags for 5
months. Three months after pressing, the oil
seemed to have suffered no ill effect, even though
unrefined.
Because o f the relatively long time before seed
production, Trichilia cannot compete economi-
cally with such crops as oil palm, which takes
only 4 years to fruit and produces up to 5 times
as much edible oil ha -~ as other commercially
grown oilseeds (Doty 1983). However, since it
has a relatively fast growth rate when young and
has multiple uses, Trichilia has potential as a
commercial crop with a specialised market.
There is also potential for exploitation o f nat-
urally-growing mature trees. F r o m the densities
of wild trees given in Table 1, and assuming these
trees give roughly similar seed crops to those
1993] GRUNDY & CAMPBELL: TRICHILIA OIL, ZIMBABWE
measured in Harare, one can expect average oil
yields o f 70 1 ha -1 from the major river areas o f
Zimbabwe and up to 100 1 ha -1 in the forests
o f the eastern highlands. Our sample included
poorly fruiting trees, however, which probably
fruited heavily in the next year.
Forests o f the eastern highlands are too dense
to consider any form o f seed harvesting. This is
not the case on the alluvial plains, where it would
be possible to remove the undergrowth below
Trichilia specimens, thereby allowing seed har-
vesting. If a single person or group o f people
could utilise approximately 5 k m o f riverbank,
we calculate that seeds could be harvested from
roughly 45 female trees, thus obtaining 3 tonnes
of fresh seed (approximately 33 agricultural bags).
I f such a system were set up at only 50 sites in
Zimbabwe, the total harvest would be 150 tonnes
o f fresh seed yr -1 (about 50 tonnes o f oil yr-~).
The nature o f plant and land ownership can
affect the success o f development projects cen-
tered around trees (Weinstock and Vergara 1987).
Problems with ownership are not foreseen in
Zimbabwe where the fruits o f wild trees are a
c o m m u n a l resource. Local leaders and farmers
in the U p p e r Save region o f Zimbabwe agreed
that the exploitation o f seeds from a wild tree
would be quite acceptable to the c o m m u n i t y (this
was not the case with tree cutting).
The fruiting time o f December to March for
T. emetica does not fit well into the agricultural
year, since it is at a time when labour is needed
for ploughing, manuring and planting. However,
the collection o f seed is not a strenuous one, and
may perhaps be c a r d e d out by those unable to
do agricultural work.
Assuming that Trichilia oil would fetch similar
prices to castor and soya oil, one bag o f seeds
would fetch roughly Z$50-Z$90 (Z$1 was equiv-
alent to approximately US$0.40 at the time o f
writing) and could be derived from two trees.
This would provide a significant cash income to
a household considering that maize, which is the
major cash crop in Zimbabwe, fetches only in
the region o f Z$20 bag -1 in a normal year, and
that Trichilia seed collection requires almost no
monetary input. It costs small-scale farmers up
to Z$6 bag -~ to transport their grain crops to the
nearest depot, thus it would be more advanta-
geous i f the oil could be pressed and used locally.
H a n d - o p e r a t e d ram presses are inefficient but
153
relatively cheap and can be used for pressing
groundnuts and sunflower seeds at other times
o f the year. Refinement costs would depend on
the use o f the oil; wood oil, for example, requires
little more than filtering.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was initiated and inspired by Brian Williams, who recog-
nised the potential of Trichilia oil and did the first extractions and tests.
Funding was provided by the University of Zimbabwe Research Board,
and the Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe.
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