The Croton macrostachyus is of critical importance to traditional African medicine. Most parts of the plant are used in the treatment of various conditions, but this tree is specifically famous for ridding the body of parasites and toxins and for dealing with skin problems. Boasting a spreading, rounded, open crown, this tree can grow up to 30 meters tall, though it is usually more like 6-12 meters. Its seeds, leaves, and shoots have a vast array of local medicinal properties. Juice from the leaves is used as an anthelmintic, leaves or young shoots are eaten to treat fevers, and a leaf decoction is drunk to treat coughs. A powder made from the leaves and twig bark of the Croton macrostachyus, also known by its Kikuyu name Mutundu, is said to treat insanity and possession. Besides its frequent use in folk medicine, this tree is particularly useful in agroforestry when it comes to reforestation and shifting sand dunes, degraded waste land, hill slopes, ravines, and lateritic soils.

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You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

(Nehemiah 9:6)