Amanda Frayer artisan // illustrator // designer

Mansonia grows in tropical West Africa, with prime growing areas in southern Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Ghana. In the past, mansonia has been called African black walnut though it’s not actually related to English or American walnut. Different areas have special names for the wood. On the Ivory Coast and in Cameroon, it is called bété. Lumbermen from Ghana call it aprono. While in Nigeria, it is referred to as ofun. There is also a species which lives in India and another in Myanmar and Thailand.

The bark is very poisonous and used as arrow-poison in parts of Africa. There is a traditional ritual for making the poison in the Guéré tribe of Western Ivory Coast. The poison-maker prepares the poison in the first days of the new moon. On the day before, he abstains from sex and food. Then in the early morning of the chosen day, he bathes in the “sacred river” (a tributary of the Nzo), before entering the forest to search for mansonia.

Mansonia trees have varying toxicity, so the poison-maker looks for those with dead butterflies lying around it. He applies a little bark juice to the tip of his nose to see if it causes a stinging sensation. The poison is only in the inner layer of the bark. Once he has all of the ingredients collected, he wanders into the forest far away from any footpaths, and boils everything down to a concentrated paste.

In Nigeria and Ghana products from the bark have been used in the treatment of leprosy and other diseases. A bark extract is drunk or an infusion of the root is also applied as an aphrodisiac.

While mansonia is endangered, I received this small scrap in an assortment of veneer that would have been discarded. Because it’s reclaimed, you can enjoy the beauty of mansonia without worry that your selection means the devastation of more trees.

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Believed to bring the wearer: boldness, strength, defense

Spirit animal: monkey, buffalo, leopard, elephant