The bark on the young Anthocleista grandiflora stem seen is neither brown nor grey here, the colours normally expected. Its colour is still partly dull green, although scattered, dark patches have appeared.

Apart from faint, horizontal lines scattered along the stem, there is little evidence of the scars where leaves or small branches had dropped off. Some superficial, vertical fissuring, whitish and squiggly, is noticeable all over the trunk surface. The stem is smooth (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002).