Albizia chevalieri Harms

Leguminosae

Common name

Jaree-hi/je

Description

Shrub or small tree, up to 6 m, occasionally 12 m, with an open and rounded or umbrella shaped canopy, bark pale-greyish, corky and deeply creviced, dark brown slash. Twigs pubescent with white lenticels, leaves with 8-12 pairs of pinnae, with 20-40 pairs of leaflets each. Leaflets 1 cm long x 2-3 mm wide, sometimes slightly curved, greyish-pubescent on both sides and apiculate. Rachis also pubescent, with a large gland at the base of the petiole. Flowers in globose pinkish heads on ca 5 cm long axillary petioles. Pods 10-15 cm long x 2-2.5 cm wide, flat, containing 7-10 seeds.

Habitat

A tree of the dry deciduous forest. Found in well watered places, sandy terraces, not gregarious, nor common.

Distribution

Found in southern Sahel and Northern Sudanian savannas from Senegal to Chad, replaced eastward by A. amara.

Products & uses

Leaves and fruits are good forage, pale wood of medium density used for making furniture, occasionally for construction. Bark used for tanning, young shoots edible to humans, fine roots used as threads to repair calabashes.

References

Aubréville 1950 ; Brenan 1957a ; Berhaut 1975 ; Geerling 1982/88 ; Von Maydell 1983/86.