Xeroderris stuhlmannii
(Taub.) Mendonca & E. P. Sousa
Wing pod
(c) Troos van der Merwe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) Troos van der Merwe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) graemewolfaard, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Seeds, Caution, Pods
The seeds are eaten after prolonged boiling or ground into meal. The pods are also consumed with caution.
Known Hazards
Where to Find It
A tropical plant. It grows in deciduous bushland in dry, hot areas. It grows in woodland and grassland and savannah on well drained soils. It can be in hot, dry sandy country. It grows between 100-1,650 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places. In Brisbane Botanical Gardens. In XTBG Yunnan.
Africa, Asia, Australia, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central Africa, China, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, East Africa, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Southern Africa, Tanzania, West Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
How to Identify
A medium to large spreading tree. It is 10-20 m tall. The trunk can be 12 m tall before branching. The trunk can be 1.2 m across. The crown is rounded or spreading. The bark is grey-brown. It has red sap from wounds. It loses its leaves during the year. The leaves are compound with 15 pairs of leaflets. The leaflets are oblong and 5-13 cm long by 3.5-6 cm wide. The leaflets are crowded near the tips of small branches. The flowers are small and pea-shaped. They are white or green. They occur in sprays near the ends of branches. They form heads up to 20 cm long by 20 cm wide. The fruit is a large flattened pod. It is 10-18 cm long by 3-4.5 cm wide. These are swollen over the seeds. There are distinctive ridged veins over the swelling. There is a rim then a wing around the edge.
How to Grow
It can be grown from seed or suckers. Seeds germinate within 2 weeks. The tree can be pruned and cut back and allowed to re-grow.
Propagation: Seed - the germination rate is up to 70% within 2 weeks from sowing. Suckers.
Medicinal Uses
Used as source material of timber, red exudate obtained from bark used for tanning. In Ghana, leaves are used in decoctions to treat malaria fever. In parts of Togo, root bark extracts is used to treat sexual dysfunction and other plant extracts are used by traditional healers to treat a variety of diseases. Root decoctions can have adverse purgative effect.
Other Uses
The bark contains a fibre, which is sometimes used to make brooms The bark is a source of tannins. The red bark exudate is sometimes used as a dye and for tanning. The heartwood is cream-coloured to dark yellow, occasionally with reddish streaks; it is not distinctly demarcated from the sapwood. The grain is straight, rarely interlocked; texture moderately fine and even. The wood is heavy; fairly hard; moderately durable - it is susceptible to powder-post beetle attack, but not particularly to termite and pinhole borer attack. It air dries slowly, with considerable distortion but little checking; kiln drying gives best results. Once dry, the wood can be unstable in service. The surface of the wood can be given a smooth, lustrous finish; nailing, screwing and gluing properties are good. Due to the narrow lumen and thick walls, the fibres are rigid and the wood is not suitable for the production of good quality paper. The wood is used for furniture, railway sleepers, canoes, handles and utensils. It is used locally to make grain mortars and the branches are used for making roofs. The wood is suitable for heavy construction, flooring, vehicle bodies, sporting goods, interior trim, joinery, poles and piles, carving, toys and novelties, turnery, veneer and plywood. The wood is also used as fuel and for the production of charcoal. In Tanzania this plant is considered to be useful for wind breaks.
Other Information
A famine food.
Names & Synonyms
Mlotwe, Molotue, Mulonde, Murande, Nande, Nlothe, Ucolotue, Vlerkboom
References (12)
- Achigan-Dako, E, et al (Eds), 2009, Catalogue of Traditional Vegetables in Benin. International Foundation for Science.
- Bol. Soc. Brot. ser. 2, 43:273. 1968 (As Xeroderris stuhlmannii)
- Grivetti, L. E., 1980, Agricultural development: present and potential role of edible wild plants. Part 2: Sub-Saharan Africa, Report to the Department of State Agency for International Development. p 72 (As Xeroderris stuhlmannii)
- Mbuya, L.P., Msanga, H.P., Ruffo, C.K., Birnie, A & Tengnas, B., 1994, Useful Trees and Shrubs for Tanzania. Regional Soil Conservation Unit. Technical Handbook No 6. p 512 (As Xeroderris stuhlmannii)
- Menninger, E.A., 1977, Edible Nuts of the World. Horticultural Books. Florida p 101 (As Xeroderris stuhlmannii)
- Palgrave, K.C., 1996, Trees of Southern Africa. Struik Publishers. p 327 (As Xeroderris stuhlmannii)
- Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 140 (As Xeroderris stuhlmannii)
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1999). Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Published on the Internet; http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ceb/sepasal/internet [Accessed 1st May 2011] (As Xeroderris stuhlmannii)
- Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 63
- Scudder, 1962, 1971, (As Xeroderris stuhlmannii)
- van Wyk, B, van Wyk, P, and van Wyk B., 2000, Photographic guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Briza. p 323 (As Xeroderris stuhlmannii)
- van Wyk, Ben-Erik, 2019, The diversity and multiple uses of southern African legumes. Australian Systematic Botany, 2019, 32, 519–546
