Karura Forest #45: Mimusops kummel
The cache, a small black-taped plastic pot, is hidden at head height in the fork of this really useful tree about 2m off the northern side of the trail, near the tree label.
To Reach the Cache Location: enter the forest by Gate C (Junction 40a) on Kiambu Road at S 01 14.395 E 36 50.644. After parking and paying the entry fee, proceed due south along the small trail passing through the woodland which joins a jeep track and follow this around a bend to Junction 23 @ at S 01 14.477 E 36 50.485. Turn right here and then follow this track which runs along the river valley to the cache location. After about 1km having reached Junction 25, turn left (south) and on ~300m to J19. Here turn left (east) and continue along this track 500m or so to the cache location.
See GC4PD3V Karura Forest #1: Intro, info & entry for background info on the forest, opening times, entry fees, etc. and here for a detailed map of Karura & Sigiria Forests.
The circuit of Junctions 40a-23-24-25-19-18-17-16-21-22-23-23a-40a along which this cache is located is approx 5.5km and will take you past 16 caches.
Mimusops kummel (red milkwood or mugambwa in Swahili) is an evergreen plant ranging in size from a shrub to a large tree usually growing up to 25m tall, but sometimes 35m. The bole can be up to 1m in diameter. The genus name, Mimusops , is a combination of the Greek words mimo , meaning ‘ape', and ops meaning ‘face', in reference to the common name (monkey's face) of several Mimusops species - perhaps due to the appearance of the flowers of Mimusops resembling in miniature the faces of monkeys.
The tree is harvested from the wild and used locally as a food, medicine and source of timber. It is also sometimes allowed to remain as a shade tree in coffee plantations. An important fruit tree locally, it warrants domestication and breeding for improved forms.
It is widespread but usually scattered in riverine forest; also found in upland dry evergreen forest and wooded grassland up to 2,100m. In areas with an annual rainfall of 1,000 mm, it 
is characteristic of forests on the most humid soils.
The tree is tolerant of pruning and pollarding.
The fruit is eaten raw as a snack and has a sweet, fleshy pulp. Ripe fruits can be dried in the sun, pounded, and the powder used for making juice or an alcoholic beverage. The orange-red fruit is an ellipsoid to ovoid berry up to 25mm long, containing a single large seed.
The roots are used in traditional medicine as a laxative and galactagogue (helps improve the flow of a mother's milk). The seeds are used to treat ascariasis (roundworm infestation). The bark is used to treat anaemia, asthma and malaria.
The trees provide a good shade and so are often conserved when land is cleared for planting coffee to serve as shade trees.
The heartwood is reddish brown; distinctly demarcated from the creamy to yellowish sapwood. The wood is heavy and hard and used for construction, utensils carving, beehives and tool handles; branches are used traditionally as arrow shafts. The wood is used for fuel and for making charcoal.