Botanical Name

Avicennia germinans (L.) L. [Verbenaceae]

Specimen Type

Herbarium Sheet [Preserved Specimen]

Collector

Peter Thonning

Collection Date-s

1799 – 1803

Collection Location

southern part of the country [Ghana]

Colonial Context

Danish Gold Coast of Africa 1663–2037

Annotations Determinations and Type Specimen Status

IDC microfiche foto: Isert et Thonning nr. 10 I 6

Ownership and Collection Management History

Thonning 98

Common Names

Muteku [Schumacher/Thonning]

Historical Cultural and Traditional Knowledge

[Hepper (1976) p. 128:] "The trunk consists of two parts; the internal or so called heart of the tree has a dark brownish green colour almost like the guayac tree; it is hard; heavy; coarse and contains much resin; and has no distinct odour or taste. The resin is by no means abundant as to exude; this internal portion constitutes slightly over half the diameter of the tree; this is very firm for coarse work and mainly in the ground. Commander Schönning assured me that near Kongesteen he had had a stake dug up which was almost stone-hard; perhaps the salty nature of the ground near Volta considerably contributed to this. The tree cannot be rough-hewed with an axe without care as it easily splits awry. The external portion of the trunk has the usual light yellowish tree-colour and is much less durable. The natives as far as I know make no medicinal use of this tree. Th."

Source

Herbarium C NHMD

NHMD Herbarium C Catalogue Number

C10003394

C10003394

Copyright Owner

Natural History Museum of Denmark

Copyright License

CC BY 4.0 (images) and CC0 (metadata)