| DESCRIPTION: It is a deciduous tree reaching 4-20 m in height. It has an open crown and slightly rounded buttresses. USE: The fermented seeds are used as a food condiment and leaves shoots and pods are used as fodder. The wood is used as charcoal and firewood and as timber for pestles, mortars, mallets, cudgels, furniture, joinery, sleepers in the construction of railway lines, boat building and axe handles. Bark and roots contain tannin and pounded dry fruits are suitable as a fish poison. The leaves are used in the treatment of headache and toothache as well as various other head ailments. Leaves and bark are combined to treat rheumatism. Remedies for skin diseases, caries, fevers and eyewashes are obtained from the bark. The roots are a diuretic and are used to treat gonorrhoea, tooth and stomach-ache, dysentery and bronchitis. The tree is suitable for erosion control, shade and as an avenue tree. It can fix atmospheric nitrogen and the fallen leaves act as a green manure. It has great potential for parkland agroforestry systems and for improved agroforestry technologies in the Sahel, where it grows well in valleys and rocky soils. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: abu suruj. FURTHER INF: It is the only tropical African Prosopis species, occurring from Senegal to Ethiopia in the zone between the Sahel and savannah forests. Due to extensive overexploitation, it has disappeared from extensive parts of the southern Sahel and the adjacent Sudan savannahs. Frequently on fallow land, on sandy clayey soils over laterite. It fairly tolerates most soil types. |
