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Cassia sieberana DC. |
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Leguminosae
Common names Marga, uruhogo
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Author:
Le Houérou
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Small to medium size deciduous tree reaching 10-20 m in height, with a fairly dense spreading crown, bark wrinkled with deep, blackish, vertical crevices ; slash yellowish to ochre, twigs pubescent, brown or grey. Leaves paripinnate, reaching 30 cm, with 8-16 opposite, elliptic leaflets. Leaflets in pairs, oblong or ovate 5-10 x 2.5-5 cm, tip acute, obtuse or emarginate, base rounded in wedge. Nervation inconspicuously pinnate with 15-20 pairs of joining secondary nerves ; tertiary nerves reticulate. Flowers very handsome bright yellow 5 cm wide in hanging racemes pendulous reaching 35 cm in length. Flowering occurs in the second part of the dry seaeson (Feb.-May). Very long, cylindrical pods 50-80 x 1.5 cm, black., indehiscent, marcescent, corky, tranversally subdivided in numerous seed-bearing segments, maturing in Sept.-Feb. Fairly common but usually not gregarious. Sometimes in groups of shrubs. Minimum MAR requirements 500 mm. In variable edaphic conditions, but rather well watered and drained. Often found on shallow lateritic soils. South Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea and to East Africa. Propagation by seeds which needs treament with boiling water to germinate, coppices well. Heartwood is pink and blackens when exposed to light. Very hard and termite resistant, many local uses in construction and tool manufacturing, turnery, carpentry, cabinet making, wheel work, pestles, mortars, tool handles. Limited use as fuel wood because very smoky. Many medicinal uses, roots vermifuge, for elephantiasis, leprosy, venereal disorders, bilharziasis, haemorrhoïds, pods for jaundice, fevers, gonorrhoea, vermifuge, laxative, aphrodisiac, wound dressing etc. Aubréville 1950 ; Brenan 1957b ; Brenan 1958 ; Dalziel 1955 ; Kerharo & Adam 1974 ; Berhaut 1975 ; Geerling 1982/88 ; Burkill 1995 ; Giffard 1974b ; Wickens 1980 ; Von Maydell 1983/86. |