"Sex Tree" and Others on the Brink of Extinction
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles 
on 08. 4.07
The "sex tree" (i.e. Citropsis articulata) — a skinny bush whose roots are purported to cure impotence — is facing an increasingly bleak future as poachers in Uganda's Mabira Forest Reserve rush to harvest it in ever larger numbers. Other tree species, including the medicinal Prunus africana — which is used to treat malaria and certain forms of cancer — is rapidly approaching extinction as well.
"The [sex] tree may have other medicinal values apart from treating sexual impotence, and we are losing out if we let these plants go extinct without doing more research. The people say that the medicines work," said Mauda Kamatenesi, a botanist at Makarere University, who argued that the loss of these species would do irrevocable damage to the rain forest and local Ugandans — who've been using them as herbal cures for many years. A larger threat to the plants' future well-being, however, may be the Ugandan government's plan to convert over a quarter of the rain forest into a sugarcane plantation.
Despite strong opposition from lawmakers, Mabira residents and the country's National Forest Authority (NFA), the government — led by President Yoweri Museveni — has vowed to move ahead with its plan to clear 17,000 acres of forest, claiming that the number of jobs the sugar plantation would create would outweigh other losses. A study conducted by the NFA found that the ecological and economic losses incurred by the Mabira clearing would be severe: endangering nine species endemic to the rain forest and threatening potential logging and eco-tourism revenue.
Recent efforts by Mabira tourism officials have focused on teaching local Ugandans the art of sustainable forest use. Though its effect has been measured, it has already helped convince many residents to stop uprooting vulnerable plant species like the "sex tree." You'd think that countries that make the popular drug Viagra so profitable would be taking an active interest in its preservation...
Via ::National Geographic News: "Sex Tree," Other Medicinal Plants Near Extinction in Uganda (news website)
See also: ::Inveneo: Solar and Pedal-Powered Phones for Uganda, ::Butterfly Back from the Brink of Extinction, ::One in Six European Mammals Faces Extinction
Image courtesy of WorldIslandInfo.com via flickr
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Glad to see an article that gives informed coverage to the issue. Most articles I have read don't mention the massive potential loss of Uganda's forest to sugar plantations. I see that as a greater threat to a wider array of plants there.
The biodiversity of Citropsis in Uganda is worth preserving. But many articles imply that the species itself is endangered, which is simply not true. Citropsis is a species of citrus that is grown in many African countries and is used as a rootstock for grafting other citrus. Plants and seed are available in several other countries, including China, Brazil, and the United States. While the plant is slow-growing in the wild (under forest canopy, with poor soils and competition), it grows much faster when cultivated under ideal conditions.
My take on Citropsis:
http://www.aphrodisiology.com/aphrodisiac-citrus-root