The African cherry (Prunus africana): can lessons be learned from an over-exploited medicinal tree?

For the last 35 years, the African cherry (Prunus africana (Hook. f.) Kalm.) has been used in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and other disorders. The bark, from which the treatment is derived, is entirely wild-collected. The major exporters of bark include Cameroon, Madagascar, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya. Groupe Fournier of France and Indena of Italy produce 86% of the world's bark extract, both for their own products and for the free market. Worldwide exports of dried bark in 2000 have been estimated at 1350-1525 metric tons per year, down from its peak of 3225 tons in 1997. Bark extracts (6370-7225 kg per year) are worth an estimated $4.36 million US dollars per year. In 2000, Plantecam, the largest bark exporter in Africa, closed its extraction factory in Cameroon, due to complex ecological, social, and economic factors. Wild-collection is no longer sustainable (and probably never was) where harvest seriously affects morbidity and mortality rates of harvested populations. Since 1995, it has been included in CITES Appendix II as an endangered species. In this paper, alternatives to wild-collection to meet future market demand are investigated, including conservation practices, enrichment plantings, small- and large-scale production, and protection of genetic resources. The species is at the beginning of a transition from an exclusively wild-collected species to that of a cultivated medicinal tree.