Description

Picralima nitida, the Akuamma, is a tree. The dried seeds from this plant are used as medicine. The seeds are crushed or powdered and taken orally, and are mainly used for the treatment of malaria and diarrhoea, and as a painkiller. The plant produces the alkaloids pericine and akuammine.

   Various parts of the plant have been employed ethnomedicinally as remedy for fever, hypertension, jaundice, dysmenorrheal, gastrointestinal disorders and malaria. In order to reveal its full pharmacological and therapeutic potentials, the present review focuses on the current medicinal uses, phytochemistry, pharmacological and toxicological activities of this species.

Akuammine is the most abundant active alkaloid found in the seeds from the treePicralima nitida, commonly known as Akuamma