| DESCRIPTION: It is a spiny deciduous shrub or tree up to 12 m, crown rounded but open. Bark pale grey, smooth dark with scales and prickles. Leaves compound, usually 3-5 pairs of shiny leaflets plus a terminal leaflet; leaflets oblong to elliptic or lanceolate, 2.5-7 x 1-2.5 cm, with a strong citrus smell when crushed. Fruit spherical, about 5 mm in diameter, reddish-brown, splitting to allow the shiny black seeds to partly protrude. USE: When dried, the leaves can be brewed to make a kind of tea. The leaves and fruit are eaten by goats throughout the year. The branches are sometimes lopped for feed. It is a good firewood tree. Timber is very hard, heavy, elastic and highly durable. It works well, although it is difficult to nail, finishes and polishes well and has been used for carving, turnery and walking sticks. The twigs are used as toothbrushes. Bark extracts are said to cure malaria. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: Knob wood. FURTHER INF: It can be found at medium to low altitudes in dry woodland or grassland, often on termite mounds. |