''Erythrophleum suaveolens'', also known as the ordeal tree, is a species of flowering plant that can be found across most of tropical Africa. The species are in height, and have a rough and blackish bark. The plants leaves have 2–3 pairs of pinnae, which carry 7–13 leaflets. The leaflets are , are green coloured and

ovate Ovate may refer to: *Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovat ...

. The flowers have fluffy spikes, and are creamy-yellow coloured. Fruits are hard, the pod of which is flat. The bark of the tree has been used in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

to make a toxic concoction used for a form of trial by ordeal called "

sassywood Sassywood is a form of trial by ordeal still in use in Liberia. There are various types of ordeal. The principal one involves the drinking of a poisonous concoction made of the bark of the ''Erythrophleum suaveolens'' tree. Another involves the rubb ...

". This use has given it the common name of the "Ordeal Tree". Flowers of Erythrophleum suaveolens

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suaveolens Plants described in 1832 Flora of Africa {{Caesalpinioideae-stub