Combretum micranthum

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Fruit, Seeds

The leaves are boiled and eaten, and the seeds are commonly eaten, particularly by children. The leaves are also used to make tea.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows in the Sahel and savannah in west Africa. It is drought and fire resistant. It grows in areas with a rainfall between 300-1,500 mm each year. It grows from sea level to 1,000 m altitude. It can grow in arid places.

Africa, Asia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Central Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Indochina, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sahel, SE Asia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Vietnam, West Africa,

How to Identify

A shrub in rocky locations and a tree in woodlands. It can also be a woody creeper or vine 15-20 m long. The stem can be 10 cm across. The leaves are alternate and shiny light green when young. The leaf shape varies They are oval and taper to the tip. They are 10 cm long. The flowers are small and white. They are along stalks 2-5 cm long. The fruit are brown and have 4 wings. They are 1.5 cm across.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown by seeds and by layering.

Propagation: Seed - pre-soaking for 24 hours in water increases the rate of germination. Removing the covering structures from the seed can also improve the level of germination. Germination rates are usually high, up to 100%. The seed can be stored long-term. More than 96% germination rate was achieved from dried seeds 4 years old that had been stored at 4°C.

Medicinal Uses

The branches are quite strong, and are a useful material for building stools, beds, tool handles. A tea made by steeping the leaves in boiling water is a traditional tonic drink in tropical savannah countries such as Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. Among West African Muslims, especially Wolofs, Fulas, and Mandinkas, the leaves, bark, and twigs of kinkeliba are harvested and sold in bundles during the dry season leading up to and during the month of Ramadan. Kinkiliba is used daily to brew a strong tea that is mixed with sugar and milk and is drunk with bread at sundown as a means of breaking the daily fast.

Other Uses

The inner bark fibres are used for binding and ropes. The timber is used like a rattan, for roof frames, for huts and lofts, basket manufacture, furniture and walking sticks. The wood is used for fuel and to make charcoal. The plant is often seen as an indicator of poor, low nutrient soils in the wild.

Combretum micranthum is a species of flowering plant in the family Combretaceae. It is a shrub known as kinkeliba in Guinea, Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali and the Gambia across multiple regional dialects, where it is often found in tiger bush and on hills in West Africa. It is used for making tea and has uses in traditional medicine, and is used by many West African Muslims during Ramadan to break their fast. The name kinkeliba is believed to come from the Fulani language. It is referred to as sekhew in the Wolof language and ŋɔlɔbɛ in the Bambara language.

Other Information

The seeds are commonly eaten by boys.

Notes

There are about 255 Combretum species.

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