World Agroforestry Centre | agroforestree database 4.0

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This database provides detailed information on a total of 670 agroforestry tree species. It is intended to help field workers and researchers in selecting appropriate species for agroforestry systems and technologies.

For each species, the database includes information on identity, ecology and distribution, propagation and management, functional uses, pests and diseases and a bibliography.

This project has been funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID, the European Union and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).

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Adansonia digitata	Lipids: A non-drying, golden yellow oil of agreeable taste, which is used in gala occasions in Senegal, may be obtained by distilling the seeds. In Bicha and Mondo villages in Tanzania, A. digitata seeds are used as a substitute for cooking oil.
Afzelia africana	Lipids: Afzelia seed (containing 31% fat) may be a source of seed oil for domestic and industrial use.
Aleurites moluccana	Lipids: Seed yields 57-80% of inedible, semi-drying oil, liquid at ordinary temperatures, solidifying at -15 deg. C, containing oleostearic acid. The oil, quicker drying than linseed oil, is used as a wood preservative, for varnishes and paint oils, as an illuminant, for soap making, waterproofing paper, rubber substitutes and insulating material. Oil is painted on bottoms of small crafts to protect against marine borers; also prevents feeding by striped cucumber beetle. The oil is inferior to tung oil, extracted from a related Chinese species, A. fordii, and used mainly for varnishing wood. Commercial production of oil yields 12-18% of the weight of the dry, unhulled fruits, the fruits being air-dried to about 12-15% mc before pressing. Oil yields as high as 300 kg/ha have been reported.
Allanblackia floribunda	Lipids: Seeds yield an edible fat used in cooking, soap making and cosmetics industry. Seed kernels amount to 60-80% of the whole seed weight. The unusual hard white fat consists almost entirely of stearic acid (52-58%) and oleic acids Oleic acid (39-45%) proportion can be extracted from the kernels. Therefore it has a considerable attention, based on its unusual fat composition in that the stearic acid is very high (above 50%), rather than its commercial importance.
Allanblackia stuhlmannii	Lipids: Seeds yield an edible fat used in cooking, lighting and liniment. Seed kernels amount to 60-80% of the whole seed weight. The unusual hard white fat consists of 52-58% stearic acid and 39-45% oleic acid. It therefore has a considerable attention, based on its unusual fat composition.
Allanblackia ulugurensis	Lipids: Seeds yield an edible fat used in cooking, soap making and cosmetics
Anacardium occidentale	Lipids: An oil, cashew nut shell liquid, is produced in the large cells of the pericarp; it has industrial applications and is used as a preservative to treat, for instance, wooden structures and fishing nets. It is also in good demand for paints, synthetic resins, laminated products, brake linings and clutch facings.
Areca catechu	Lipids: The nut contains 8-12% fat that has characteristics comparable with hydrogenated coconut oil. It contains both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Arecanut fat can be extracted by using hexane as a solvent, and the fat can be made edible by refining it with an alkali. Simple blending of arecanut fat with butterfat followed by inter-esterification gives good products, acceptable in confectioneries.
Argania spinosa	Lipids: Oil is the most valuable product derived from the tree. In the Essaouira region alone, oil production is between 1000 to 2000 tons per year. The ratio of total unsaturated to total saturated fatty acids is around 4:5. Argan oil contains about 80% polyunsaturated fatty acids of which 30% is linoleic acid. The specific composition of the oil produced makes it a resource for nutritional, cosmetic and medical usage
Artocarpus altilis	Lipids: The fat extracted from the seed is a light yellow liquid, viscous at room temperature, with a characteristic odour similar to that of peanuts. It has a chemical number and physical properties similar to those of olive oil.
Artocarpus lakoocha	Lipids: The fat extracted from the seed is a light yellow liquid, viscous at room temperature.
Azadirachta excelsa	Lipids: The seed oil fatty acid composition is: caprylic acid 0.30%, n-capric acid 0.96%, palmitic acid 9.8%, stearic acid 4.7%, heneicosanoic acid 0.72%, behenic acid 2.76%, and tricosanoic acid 0.75%.
Azadirachta indica	Lipids: A. indica oil has long been produced in Asia on an industrial scale for soaps, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other non-edible products. The seed oil yield is sometimes as high as 50% of the weight of the kernel. Neem oil is valued at about USD 700/t (1990).
Balanites aegyptiaca	Lipids: The kernels produce edible oil used for cooking. The oil remains stable when heated and has a high smoking point, and therefore its free fatty acid content is low. Its scent and taste are acceptable.
Bauhinia purpurea	Lipids: The seeds contain high amounts of linolenic and oleic fatty acids (15% of a non-drying oil) and low amounts of myristic and linolenic fatty acids.
Bauhinia variegata	Lipids: The seeds are made up of 20% endocarp and 80% kernel. They yield 16.5% of a pale yellow, fatty oil on extraction with petroleum ether but only 6.1% in an hydraulic press.
Blighia sapida	Lipids: The purified oil from the fruit has high nutritive value and makes an important contribution to the fatty acid intake of many Jamaicans and West Africans. Linoleic, palmitic and stearic acids are the major fatty acids observed in the arillus with linoleic accounting for over 55% of the total fatty acids.
Bombax costatum	Lipids: Seeds of B. costatum have a high oil content (19.8%) and can be a possible oil source.
Borassus aethiopum	Lipids: Oil can be extracted from the fruit and pulp.
Butea monosperma	Lipids: The seeds yield a clear oil.
Byrsonima crassifolia	Lipids: An edible fat is extracted from the fruits with boiling water in Magdalena, Colombia. B. crassifolia flowers produce abundant lipids instead of nectar. Several species of Centris bees collect this oil.
Calophyllum brasiliense	Lipids: oil has been extracted from the seeds.
Calophyllum inophyllum	Lipids: The kernels yield 50-73% of a bluish-yellow to dark green viscous oil, known as domba oil, or pinnai oil, or dilo oil. It has a disagreeable taste or odour, as it contains some resinous material that can easily be removed by refining. The concentration of resinous substances in the oil varies from 10 to 30%; it may therefore be used as a varnish. Domba oil is of excellent quality for soap manufacture; it is also used as an illuminant and in local medicine. The main compounds of the seed oil are oleic, linoleic, stearic and palmitic acid. Mixed with resin of Vateria indica, the oil is used for caulking boats.
Canarium indicum	Lipids: Oil extracted from the seeds serves as a substitute for coconut oil for cooking or as an illuminant. Oil distilled from it is an ingredient in perfume and cosmetics.
Canarium ovatum	Lipids: An edible light-yellow oil expressed from the kernel is comparable in quality to that of olive oil, containing up to 59% oleic glycerides and 32-59% of palmitic glycerides. Pulp oil can be extracted and used as a substitute for cottonseed oil in the manufacture of soap and edible products.
Carapa guianensis	Lipids: Oil obtained from the seeds, called ‘crab oil’ or ‘andiroba’, is well known and used as lamp oil and for making soap and candles.
Ceiba pentandra	Lipids: C. pentandra seed contains 20-25% non-drying oil, similar to cottonseed oil, used as a lubricant, in soap manufacturing and in cooking.
Citrus bergamia	Lipids: The oil is further used in skin care products (bronzers), soaps, lotions and creams. A different oil is obtained from the leaves (bergamot petitgrain oil), but is only produced to order.
Cocos nucifera	Lipids: The oil contains fatty alcohol and glycerine used in soaps, detergents, shampoos cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and explosives.
Dacryodes edulis	Lipids: The wood contains an oil that on petrol-ether extraction has been found to be composed of fatty acids and their esters. The fresh pulp is rich in lipids (35-65%) with a considerable amount of palmitic and linoleic acid. The tree can produce 7-8 t/ha of oil.
Dalbergia sissoo	Lipids: Heartwood yields light brown, viscous, non-drying fixed oil (5.35%), suitable as a lubricant for heavy machinery.
Elaeis guineensis	Lipids: Palm kernel oil contains about 50% oil. This oil is used in hard water soaps, the manufacture of glycerin, shampoos and candles. The better grades are used in manufacturing margarine.
Garcinia gummi-gutta	Lipids: Fat obtained from seed is used as vegetable butter.
Garcinia quaesita	Lipids: The seeds have very high oil content. They contain up to about 31% of edible fat, rich in oleic acid
Gevuina avellana	Lipids: Lipid content is comparable to rapeseed, sunflower and peanuts. The oil is of high quality as table oil rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linolenic and ecosaenoic. G. avellana nuts are rich in oils that have health-cosmetic purposes. The oil is particularly high in palmitoleic acid (up to 27.6 %), which is a good natural UV filter for sun lotions.
Gnetum africanum	Lipids: The leaf fat content in gnetum is significant, up to 14.20% (Okafor et al.1996.).
Hevea brasiliensis	Lipids: Seeds are the source of para rubber seed oil. Boiling removes the poison and releases the oil, which can be used for illumination. Kernels (50-60% of the seed) contain semi-drying pale yellow oil used in soap making, paints and varnishes.
Hibiscus sabdariffa	Lipids: Roselle seed oil is rich in linoleic acid and is a candidate source for vegetable oils.
Hippophae rhamnoides	Lipids: A valuable natural oil, sea buckthorn oil (shaji oil) rich in vitamin C, E, carotene (vitamin A) and essential fatty acids is obtained from the seeds.
Irvingia gabonensis	Lipids: Kernels contain oil used for making soaps, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Jatropha curcas	Lipids: The seeds yield up to 31-37% of a valuable oil. It is used to prepare varnish after calcination with iron oxides. Hardened physic nut oil could be a satisfactory substitute for tallow or hardened rice bran oil. In Europe it is used in wool spinning and textile manufacture. Along with burnt plantain ashes, oil is used in making hard homemade soap.
Juniperus procera	Lipids: Cedar wood oil distilled from sawdust is used in the cosmetic industry to manufacture perfumes.
Khaya senegalensis	Lipids: The seeds have an oil content of 67% and are rich in oleic acid (66%). The oil is used in West Africa for cooking.
Lagerstroemia speciosa	Lipids: Seeds of L. speciosa yield an oil whose main constituents are linoleic (54.3%), a keto (9-ketooctadec-cis-11-enoic acid, 21.1%), oleic (10.3%), palmitic (9.7%) and stearic (4.6%).
Macadamia integrifolia	Lipids: Macadamia is the richest oil-yielding nut known. The kernel contains more than 75% oil, suitable for human consumption.
Madhuca latifolia	Lipids: Oil from the fruit kernels principally consists of palmitic and stearic acids and is mainly used for soap and candle making.
Madhuca utilis	Lipids: The oil from the seeds is used locally in Sumatra for cooking.
Maesopsis eminii	Lipids: Analyses of M. eminii seed from Karnataka, India, indicate that they contain 40-50% of an edible oil, the main components of which are stearic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid.
Mallotus philippensis	Lipids: The seeds yield kamala seed oil which can be used as a substitute for tung oil, obtained from Aleurites spp., in the production of rapid-drying paints and varnishes. The seed oil is also used as a fixative in cosmetic preparations. The oil is also used as a fixative in cosmetic preparations and for colouring foodstuffs and beverages.
Melia azedarach	Lipids: Oil suitable for illumination has been extracted experimentally from berries.
Mesua ferrea	Lipids: The kernels contain about 75% of a yellowish oil, constituted by the glycerides of common fatty acids: linoleic, oleic, stearic, and arachidic acids. An oil called nahor is extracted from the seeds.
Moringa oleifera	Lipids: Oil extracted from the mature pods (oil of Ben) is yellowish, non-drying, good keeping qualities but eventually turns rancid. It is used as a lubricant, in cosmetics and perfumes, and to some extent is a substitute for sperm-whale oil.
Nephelium lappaceum	Lipids: Seeds contain an oil formerly used for illumination and a fat used formerly for soap.
Orbignya phalerata	Lipids: The fruit contains 3-8 kernels with oil content of 60-70% while the outer fibrous portion of the fruit contains only about 1% oil. This colourless oil is somewhat similar to coconut oil as does not readily become rancid. The crude oil is suitable for soap production and detergents.
Parinari curatellifolia	Lipids: Seed kernel has a high oil content (37.75%); it is used for paints, varnishes and printing and engraving inks.
Paulownia imperialis	Lipids: Oil for varnishing is obtained from the seed.
Pentaclethra macroloba	Lipids: The seeds have high oil content that may be used industrially in lubricants and soap manufacture
Pentaclethra macrophylla	Lipids: The seed is a source of edible oil, 'the oil bean'.
Persea americana	Lipids: The pulp and the seeds contain fatty acids, such as oleic, lanolic, palmitic, stearic, linoleic, capric and miristic acid which constitutes 80% of the fruits fatty content. The oil is used by the cosmetic industry in soaps and skin moisturizer products.
Piliostigma malabaricum	Lipids: The seeds of P. malabarica contain high amounts of crude lipids than most of the domesticated pulses. The unsaturated fatty acids, oleic acid and linoleic acid, are predominant in seed lipids.
Pithecellobium dulce	Lipids: Seeds contain a greenish oil (20%), which, after refining and bleaching, can be used for food or in the making of soap and can substitute kapok and ground nut seed oils.
Pongamia pinnata	Lipids: Oil is the most important product of the pongam tree and vast amounts of seeds are collected in India for commercial processing of industrial uses. It has been found that the seed contains 27-40% of a thick, yellow or reddish-brown oil and that 2 kg of mature pods will yield about 1 kg of husked kernels. Extracted oil amounts to 13.4% of the whole seed pod; 26.97% of the kernels. The oil has a bitter taste, a disagreeable aroma and a specific gravity of 0.9371 at 15 deg. C. It is used as a lubricant, varnish, water-paint binder and in soap making. It is one of the few nitrogen-fixing trees to produce seeds containing oil.
Pouteria sapota	Lipids: The seed kernel yields 45 to 60% of a white, semi-solid, vaseline-like oil which is edible when freshly extracted and refined. It is sometimes used in soap and considered to have a greater potential in the soap industry, in cosmetics and pharmaceutical products
Pycnanthus angolensis	Lipids: Oil is extracted from the seeds and is used in making soap.
Ricinodendron heudelotii	Lipids: Seed kernel is oil bearing and contains about 47% by weight of oil consisting of the fatty acids eleostearic 44%, oleic16%, and 10% each of palmitic, stearic, linoleic and linolenic. The oil is light, yellow, drying, has a sweet taste, is usable in varnish and soft soaps and has industrial application in waterproofing materials.
Salvadora oleoides	Lipids: Seeds contain 40-50 % of a greenish-yellow fat containing large amounts of lauric and myristic acids. It could be used for making soap and candles.
Salvadora persica	Lipids: Seeds of S. persica contain 30-40% of a greenish-yellow, non-edible oil that has over 50% lauric and myristic acids. It has a high melting point and a disagreeable odour that disappears on purification. The most important aspect of the oil is the presence of a low percentage of C8 and C10 fatty acids that are of great economic significance. The oil is an alternative source of oil for soap and detergent industries.
Santalum spicatum	Lipids: Seed lipids of the western Australian sandalwood contain about 49% oleic acid and about 40% ximenynic acid. The oil consists of three major triglycerides: triximenynoyl-glycerol (triximenynin), an oleoyl-diximenynoyl-glycerol, and a dioleoyl-ximenynoyl-glycerol.
Schima wallichii	Lipids: Seed of S. wallichii from India contains 19% oil.
Schinziophyton rautanenii	Lipids: The kernel is rich in oil, up to 60% and is suitable for exploitation as an edible oil, this oil is high in linoleic, elaeostearic acid and gamma-tocopherol. The oil’s perishability seems a hindering attribute in its commercial usage. Margarine has been made from the oil in Germany and England.
Sclerocarya birrea ssp. caffra	Lipids: The nuts yield an oil with a quality and fatty acid composition comparable to olive oil but with a stability that is 10 times greater. A non-drying oil that burns like a candle comprises 56% of the seed. The walnutlike stone contains up to 6% edible oil (1 t of fruit yields 60 l of oil), which is occasionally sold on the local market. The oil from the seeds has preservative properties and, if dried and stored in a cool place, meat treated with it is said to keep up to 1 year. Zulu women of South Africa use the extracted oil as a cosmetic.
Securidaca longepedunculata	Lipids: The flowers yield an oil with many possible uses; oil expressed from the seeds is used cosmetically or as a furniture stain.
Shorea robusta	Lipids: S. robusta seed oil fat has become a significant foreign exchange earner for India.
Simaruba glauca	Lipids: Seed of S. glauca yield oil. The aceituno fat is also used for soap manufacture in India, where plantations have been established for its commercial production.
Simmondsia chinensis	Lipids: Jojoba oil contained in seed is light yellow, unsaturated, of unusual stability, remarkably pure, and need not be refined for use as transformer oil or as a lubricant for high-speed machinery or machines operating at high temperatures. The stability of jojoba oil makes it attractive to the electronic and computer industries and it is also suitable for sulfurization to produce lubricating oil and a rubber-like material (factice) suitable for use in printing ink and linoleum. Other proposed uses include candles, plasticizers, detergents, fire retardants and leather industry.
Sterculia foetida	Lipids: An unusual feature of the seed is that oil is present in the testa as well as the kernel. The total oil content is about 34%.
Swietenia macrophylla	Lipids: An oil that might be of some commercial value can be extracted from the seed kernels.
Tamarindus indica	Lipids: An amber coloured seed oil - which resembles linseed oil - is suitable for making paints and varnishes and for burning in lamps.
Telfairia pedata	Lipids: The seed oil is extractable and can be used for a number of household purposes and cosmetics.
Terminalia bellirica	Cosmetic: The kernel produces a non-edible oil used in toilet soap and is good for hair.
Terminalia catappa	Lipids: The kernel contains an extractable edible oil used for cooking.
Theobroma cacao	Lipids: The ash from pod husks contains potassium oxide, which can be extracted in the form of potassium hydroxide, a useful alkaline in the saponification process. Cocoa-bean fat from unfermented cocoa beans can be extracted and used in soap making.
Treculia africana	Lipids: Analyses of the hexane extract of Treculia seeds indicate that it contains a stearine solid fat fraction, resembling that of palm-kernel oil, and an aleine fraction with a composition similar to that of cottonseed oil.
Trema orientalis	Lipids: The seed contains a dark green fixed oil.
Trichilia emetica	Lipids: Trichilia oil produces a good finish on wood surfaces and could compete successfully with other commercial wood oils. The seed contains high oil concentrations as most oil-rich dicotyledonous seeds. Fresh seed yield approximately 64.7 ml oil/kg, using a simple ram press (yield from the whole seed is 58-68%, the seed coat contains 14-51%, and the kernel 68% oil).
Vitellaria paradoxa	Lipids: The shea-butter tree is an important oil-producing plant, especially as it occurs where other such plants are rare. It is also useful in soap making, but it is unique in having a high fraction of oil (8%) that does not convert into soap; this fraction has numerous medicinal qualities. The sticky black residue that remains after the clarification of butter is used for filling cracks in hut walls.
Vochysia guatemalensis	Lipids: The embryo has high concentrations of lipids (28.6%) and proteins (34%) but is low in carbohydrates (4.2%).
Warburgia stuhlmannii	Lipids: Oil has been extracted from the wood for use in perfumes.
Ximenia americana	Lipids: The fruit yields up to 67.4% oil from the seed that has been used as a body and hair oil. The oil is not edible, and the presence of a rubberlike substance excludes it from many industrial uses.
Ximenia caffra	Oil: The roasted seeds are mashed in the mortar yielding a viscous, non-drying oil is applied to colour the hair to dark black and helps to straighten it. Oil from the seeds (Ximenia oil) is also used to soften leather, bowstrings, cosmetic products locally and for a general body ointment.