Corkwood (Musanga cecropioides)

Family: Urticaceae | Edibility: Edible (3/5)

Corkwood or Musanga cecropioides is a fast-growing and short-lived tree with an umbrella-shaped crown and a straight bole that can be up to 50 cm in diameter. It reaches a height of 45 m with prop roots that are 2 - 3 m tall. The trunk is rough and whitish-yellow. The whitish gray to pink wood has a wide range of uses including rafts, toys, floatation device, etc. It is also used as a cork substitute.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Fruit, Sap/Syrup, Bark/Inner Bark

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Late Summer, Spring, Winter

Flavor & Culinary Uses

sweetish taste. — The aerial stilt-roots, and also the younger branches, are noted for their capacity of yielding a large amount of potable sap.; ‘Half a bucketful’ is said to be obtainable from a single tree overnight.; The sap is colourless, odourless and of an insipid sweetish taste.; This source of drinking water is of great importance in some areas of the tree's range, where whole villages can depend upon it in dry seasons.

Habitat & North American Range

Secondary forests in recent clearings on superficially damp soils; common on old farms in closed forest; rare in rain-forest; swamp forest; along rivers; often in pure regular stands; at elevations from near sea level to about 1,200 metres. (Zone 10)