Foetidia clusioides (PROTA)
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Introduction |
| General importance |  
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| Geographic coverage Africa |
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| Geographic coverage World |
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| Timber |
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Foetidia clusioides Baker
- Protologue: Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1895: 104 (1895).
- Family: Lecythidaceae
Vernacular names
- Stinkwood tree (En).
Origin and geographic distribution
Foetidia clusioides is endemic to eastern Madagascar.
Uses
The wood of Foetidia clusioides and other Foetidia spp., called ‘bois puant’ or ‘nato hofatra’ in Madagascar, is used in heavy construction for posts and piles. It is suitable for heavy construction, heavy flooring, joinery, interior trim, ship building, vehicle bodies, railway sleepers, mine props, sporting goods, toys, novelties and turnery. It is also used as firewood and for charcoal production.
Production and international trade
The wood of Foetidia clusioides is only locally used and traded.
Properties
The heartwood is reddish grey and not distinctly demarcated from the grey sapwood. The grain is usually straight, sometimes interlocked, texture medium and even. The wood has a bad smell. It is heavy, with a density of 1000–1080 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content, and hard, strong and fairly elastic. It air dries fairly easily, but care is needed to avoid splitting, checking or twisting. The shrinkage rates are high, from green to oven dry 7.8–9.1% radial and 13.0–13.8% tangential. Once dry, the wood is unstable in service. At 12% moisture content, the modulus of rupture is 249–322 N/mm², modulus of elasticity 22, 740–24,220 N/mm², compression parallel to grain 91–104 N/mm², shear 8.5–13.5 N/mm², cleavage 20–29.5 N/mm and Chalais-Meudon side hardness 7.5–11.8.
The wood works fairly well with both hand and machine tools, and can be planed to a smooth surface. It is very shock resistant. It holds nails and screws well, but pre-boring is recommended. The wood takes a nice polish and glues well. It is very durable, also when in contact with the ground or water, and is rarely attacked by termites. The sapwood may be liable to Lyctus attack.
Description
- Evergreen small tree up to 15(–20) m tall; bole up to 35 cm in diameter; twigs thick, glabrous.
- Leaves arranged spirally, clustered near apex of branches, simple and entire, nearly sessile, inrolled in bud; stipules absent; blade slightly obliquely oblanceolate to spatulate, 5–13 cm × 2–6 cm, base cuneate, apex rounded or notched, leathery, glabrous, pinnately veined with numerous indistinct lateral veins.
- Flowers solitary in leaf axils, bisexual, regular; pedicel up to 2 cm long; sepals 4, oblong-oblanceolate, c. 1.5 cm × 0.5 cm; petals absent; stamens numerous, free, arranged in 4 groups, 1–1.5 cm long; disk flat and circular; ovary inferior, 4-celled, style almost as long as stamens, thick, usually with 4 short branches.
- Fruit a top-shaped woody drupe 1–1.5 cm long, indehiscent, with at apex persistent disk and enlarged wing-like sepals up to 3 cm long, few-seeded.
Other botanical information
Foetidia comprises 16 species, of which 13 are endemic to Madagascar, 2 to the Mascarene islands, and 1 to Tanzania.
The wood of other Foetidia species is occasionally used in Madagascar.
Foetidia asymetrica
Foetidia asymetrica H.Perrier is a small to medium-sized tree up to 20 m tall, which is widespread in northern and western Madagascar. Its wood, called ‘manambao’, is heavy and moderately hard, and used for construction, particularly for posts in traditional houses and for bridges, carpentry and wagon construction.
Foetidia obliqua
Foetidia obliqua Blume is a shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall. It is the most common and widespread species of Foetidia in Madagascar, occurring from north to south in eastern parts of the island; it also occurs on Pemba island (Tanzania), possibly introduced and naturalized. Its wood, named ‘voantsanàka’ in Madagascar, is used in construction for posts and piles. The leaves are used in traditional medicine; leaf infusions are administered to treat complaints of the respiratory organs.
Anatomy
Wood-anatomical description (IAWA hardwood codes):
- Growth rings: 2: growth ring boundaries indistinct or absent.
- Vessels: 5: wood diffuse-porous; 13: simple perforation plates; 22: intervessel pits alternate; 23: shape of alternate pits polygonal; 24: intervessel pits minute (≤ 4 μm); 30: vessel-ray pits with distinct borders; similar to intervessel pits in size and shape throughout the ray cell; 42: mean tangential diameter of vessel lumina 100–200 μm; 47: 5–20 vessels per square millimetre; 48: 20–40 vessels per square millimetre.
- Tracheids and fibres: 61: fibres with simple to minutely bordered pits; 66: non-septate fibres present; 70: fibres very thick-walled.
- Axial parenchyma: 76: axial parenchyma diffuse; 77: axial parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates; 78: axial parenchyma scanty paratracheal; 86: axial parenchyma in narrow bands or lines up to three cells wide; 93: eight (5–8) cells per parenchyma strand.
- Rays: 97: ray width 1–3 cells; 106: body ray cells procumbent with one row of upright and/or square marginal cells; 113: disjunctive ray parenchyma cell walls present; 115: 4–12 rays per mm.
- Mineral inclusions: 136: prismatic crystals present; 142: prismatic crystals in chambered axial parenchyma cells; 159: silica bodies present; 160: silica bodies in ray cells.
Ecology
Foetidia clusioides occurs in humid evergreen forest, up to 1000 m altitude.
Genetic resources
Foetidia clusioides is fairly widespread and there are no indications that it is in immediate danger of genetic erosion, although the fragmentation of the forest in eastern Madagascar may cause a serious threat in the near future. The numbers of trees of several other Foetidia species have fallen dramatically and these need protection urgently.
Prospects
The wood is likely to remain of local importance because of its durability and good working properties.
Major references
- Bolza, E. & Keating, W.G., 1972. African timbers: the properties, uses and characteristics of 700 species. Division of Building Research, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia. 710 pp.
- Bosser, J., 1988. Espèces nouvelles du genre Foetida (Lecythidaceae) de Madagascar. Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Section B, Adansonia 10(2): 105–119.
- Lens, F., Baas, P., Jansen, S. & Smets, E., 2007. A search for phylogenetically informative wood characters within Lecythidaceae s. l. American Journal of Botany 94(4): 483–502.
- Morton, C.M., Mori, S.A., Prance, G.T., Karol, K.G. & Chase, M.W., 1997. Phylogenetic relationships of Lecythidaceae: A cladistic analysis using rbcL sequence and morphological data. American Journal of Botany 84(4): 530–540.
- Perrier de la Bâthie, H., 1954. Lécythidacées (Lecythidaceae). Flore de Madagascar et des Comores (plantes vasculaires), familles 147–151. Firmin-Didot et cie., Paris, France. Famille 149. 11 pp.
- Prance, G.T., 2008. A revision of Foetidia (Lecythidaceae subfamily Foetidioideae). Brittonia 60(4): 336–348.
- Sallenave, P., 1964. Propriétés physiques et mécaniques des bois tropicaux. Premier supplément. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 79 pp.
- Sallenave, P., 1971. Propriétés physiques et mécaniques des bois tropicaux. Deuxième supplément. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 128 pp.
- Takahashi, A., 1978. Compilation of data on the mechanical properties of foreign woods (part 3) Africa. Shimane University, Matsue, Japan. 248 pp.
Other references
- Boiteau, P., Boiteau, M. & Allorge-Boiteau, L., 1999. Dictionnaire des noms malgaches de végétaux. 4 Volumes + Index des noms scientifiques avec leurs équivalents malgaches. Editions Alzieu, Grenoble, France.
- Guéneau, P., 1971. Bois de Madagascar. Possibilités d’emploi. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Antananarivo, Madagascar. 75 pp.
- Guéneau, P., Bedel, J. & Thiel, J., 1970–1975. Bois et essences malgaches. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 150 pp.
- Lisan, B. & Allorge, L., undated. Les arbres de Madagascar pour reboisement. [Internet] benjamin.lisan.free.fr. December 2011.
- Madagascar Catalogue, 2011. Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar. [Internet] Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, U.S.A. and Missouri Botanical Garden, Madagascar Research and Conservation Program, Antananarivo, Madagascar. http://www.efloras.org/ madagascar. December 2011.
Sources of illustration
- Perrier de la Bâthie, H., 1954. Lécythidacées (Lecythidaceae). Flore de Madagascar et des Comores (plantes vasculaires), familles 147–151. Firmin-Didot et cie., Paris, France. Famille 149. 11 pp.
Author(s)
- L.P.A. Oyen, PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
Correct citation of this article
Oyen, L.P.A., 2012. Foetidia clusioides Baker. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Louppe, D. & Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>.
Accessed 22 April 2026.
- See the Prota4U database.