Sneezewood Tree Seeds ~ Ptaeroxylon obliquum Seeds - Nieshout - Indigenous to South Africa

Ptaeroxylon obliquum Seeds

Sneezewood; Nieshout

Ptaeroxylon (pronounced 'teroxillon') is a direct Greek translation meaning sneeze and wood; obliquum refers to the oblique leaflets. Umtata in the Eastern Cape takes its name indirectly from the Xhosa name for this tree, umThathi. This is a protected tree in South Africa. Sneezewood is extremely hard and durable and highly valued as a timber for fence posts and buildings. In the past, it was also used extensively for railway sleepers. Little furniture was ever made of it, but with some effort and preparation beautiful pieces can be made and these are prized today. Highly irritant, aromatic peppery oils, containing nieshoutol are produced by the wood, causing violent sneezing by woodworkers after sawing or sanding. When used as machine bearings sneezewood often wears longer than brass or iron. In Mozambique it is the preferred wood for the manufacture of xylophone keys. The tree is used traditionally both for medicine and ritual purposes. Bark is used as a snuff to relieve headaches. Pieces of wood can be placed in cupboards to repel moths. The resin from the heated wood has been applied to warts and powdered bark added to a wash to kill cattle ticks. The wood is reported to "burn like paraffin"- giving a bright, hot fire. It was also used as tinder to make fire by friction. Great quantities were felled for fuel and other uses in the past, making it scarce today. Palmer & Pitman (1973) in Trees of Southern Africa report that sneezewood was used to fuel five lime kilns at Bathurst and for the steam tugs at the Kowie (Port Alfred).