Kew accepts Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman; Pygeum africanum Hook.f. is a synonym found in older literature, product labels, and trade databases. Common names such as African cherry, African prune, red stinkwood, and pygeum vary by market. For study or inventory, record the scientific name, Rosaceae family, plant part, and origin. The word “pygeum” on a package alone cannot authenticate the species, part, or documented lot.

The species is an evergreen tree with a potentially large branching crown; reported height varies with locality and forest conditions. Mature bark is dark grey to brown, rough, and fissured lengthwise. Alternate leaves are thick and leathery, elliptic-oblong to lance-shaped, often with toothed margins. Small creamy-white flowers occur in axillary racemes; ripe drupes turn red to dark purplish-brown. The AI tree picture supports study of one general form, not every geographic or seasonal variation.

CITES identifies the bark as a locally used medicinal material and an export commodity for the pharmaceutical industry; international trade includes dried bark and processed medicines. EMA maintains a record for Pruni africanae cortex in the urinary and genital therapeutic area. These sources establish use and market context, but sale or inclusion in a monograph does not prove that every product has the same composition or effect.

Clinical studies have investigated bark extracts for lower urinary tract symptoms associated with BPH. The EMA assessment summarizes trials with different sample sizes, durations, and preparations; older studies were often short and did not compare comprehensively with all standard medicines. Findings therefore apply cautiously to the preparations studied. They cannot be transferred automatically to raw bark, unstandardized powder, home-made tea, or another plant sold as “pygeum.”

In the 2026.1 CITES Trade Database extract, filtering Prunus africana, term medicine, purpose T (commercial), and source W (wild) yields 22 comparative rows in reported years 2016, 2017, and 2019–2024. The extract includes exporter/importer codes such as US, CA, IN, GB, TR, PT, NL, and FJ; some records give origins CM, CD, UG, or XV. These are 22 rows under a specific filter, not 22 unique shipments or a global volume total. Quantities use different units or are blank, so they should not be added into one production figure.

The species has been listed in CITES Appendix II since 1995. Appendix II regulates international trade through permits and findings about whether trade may be detrimental; it does not mean every tree is banned from trade, nor does it prove that any individual lot is legal. CITES records populations previously categorized as of urgent concern by the Plants Committee and measures such as quotas or import suspensions at particular times. Laws, annotations, quotas, and permits can vary by source country and date.