Coelocline
Coelocline. Xylopia polycarpa, Oliver. (Coelocline polycarpa, D.C.) Berberin Tree. Yellow dye Tree of Soudan.—This small tree, of the Fam. Anonaceae, growing in Soudan, Sierra Leone, and certain parts of Western Africa, was described by William F. Daniell. (P. J., Feb., 1857). When wounded, the tree exudes a juice which produces a yellow stain upon linen that cannot be washed out. The outer surface of the bark is greenish-gray interrupted by occasional blackish patches; the inner layers are of a golden yellow, and very fibrous, so that they can be separated in ribbon-like bands. The bark is moderately but disagreeably bitter, and stains the saliva yellow. Water extracts its color and bitterness. Stenhouse has ascertained that it contains berberine. The bark is much used in Africa for dyeing yellow. In Sierra Leone it is employed topically, in powder or decoction, for obstinate ulcers.
