Leaves serve as an excellent animal feed. The bark fibre is strong, pleasant to taste and is used for making ropes, twine and mats. The leaves are supposedly edible. Its gum is used as laxative. Its wood is a source of many durable household items and work tools. Elsewhere, the bark and leaves are boiled and steam is inhaled for the treatment of influenza and fever.

In November 2021, the IUCN rated Sterculia africana "LC", meaning least concern. Nevertheless, its decreasing abundance in Somaliland and its ethnobotanical importance there have led to its inclusion on a list of species of particular concern in the country. In November 2021, the IUCN rated Sterculia africana "LC", meaning least concern. Nevertheless, its decreasing abundance in Somaliland and its ethnobotanical importance there have led to its inclusion on a list of species of particular concern in the country.

Thulin, M. (1999) Sterculiaceae in Flora of Somalia 2: 21-38

Plants trees up to 10 m or more tall, with thick trunks; bark peeling in papery flakws; branchlets puberulous to tomentose. Leaves crowded at ends of branches, more or less densely pubescent; petioles up to 10 cm long; blades 5-15 cm long, 4-13 cm wide, broadly ovate-cordate, usually deeply 3-5(-7) lobed, lobes more or less acuminate, rarely entire. Inflorescences narrow, 3-12 cm long, pubescent panicles. Calyces up to 12 mm long, reddish with yellowish-green lobes, pubescent outside. Male flowers with androgynophores up to 10 mm long. Female flowers with gynophores up to 7 mm long. Follicles 4-10 cm long, oblong-ovoid, thick-walled, only partly opening up at maturity, longitudinally ribbed, tomentose with short, yellowish hairs, with a hornlike beak up to 1 cm long at the tip; seeds 9-11 mm long 5-6 mm wide, dull black.

Sterculia africana grows in deciduous woodland or bushland, often on rocky slopes, at elevations of 1050-1380 m. the Flora of Somalia reports it from region N1 of Somaliland, Djibouti, Socotra, Ethiopia, and Sudan and southern Tanzania south to Namibia and Botswana.

©Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Reproduced with permission. 

A deciduous tree, up to 10 m tall or more, with a thick trunk; bark surface whitish grey or livercoloured, peeling in papery flakes.