|
Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight & Arn. |
 |
Leguminosae
|
Author:
Le Houérou
|
|
Kakada (the Sudan). This description is specific for subsp. africana Brenan & Brummit. Thorny shrub or small tree reaching 3-7 m. in height. Bark on trees thick and vertically fissured, very fibrous, slash cream-colored to light yellow. Strong (8-10 cm), slightly recurved alternate woody thorns growing at straight angle from the branches, bearing leaves at their base. Leaf-rachis pubescent. Leaves are acacia-like, bipinnate, 4-8 cm long, with 5-15 pairs of pinnae having 12-30 pairs of leaflets each. Leaflets 6-8 mm long x 2.5 mm wide, leaflets and petioles tomentose and ciliate, stipitate glands between the pinnulae. Twigs grey brown to dark violet, with prominent light lenticels. Very characteristic bi-coloured flowers, on petiolated, cylindrical, dense pendulous spikes, bottle-brush like, 6-8 cm long, fragrant, flowering in the second part of the dry season (Feb-May), long before the inception of foliation. Upper flowers in the spikes are sterile and reddish-purple in color, with protruding staminodes, the lower flowers are fertile and pale yellow to cream in color. Pods are brownish or yellowish, about 10 cm long, indehiscent, glabrous, twisting to form strangely shaped bundles that remain on the tree for a long period, usually four-seeded. 34 000 clean seeds / kg. Gregarious, very invasive in fallows and difficult to eliminate because of its active suckering, liable to produce dense thickets. Occurs in frost-free localities. Occurs in medium rainfall areas. Grows on various kinds of soils, in the Sahel it tends to be restricted in the best watered places around ponds and along water courses. Widespread in tropical Africa, from Cape Verde, the Gambia and the Sudan south to Natal and Angola. Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones to the rain forest, extending to East Africa and the South Arabian Peninsula. Also in Iran, tropical Asia and Australia. Introduced in Florida, the United States, and in Cuba. It is fire-tolerant. Propagation very easy from root cuttings, root suckering. French (1934) stated that the pods form a valuable source of protein in central Tanzania, when they ripen and fall in August, a time when grazing is scarce. Camels eat the leaves and cattle eat the pods in the Sudan (Tothill, 1954), and McKay (1968) reported that cattle and goats browse the pods in Botswana after three years of goat grazing the plants were diminished in size. Wood heavy and hard, little use as timber because of size, but used for walking sticks, handles, spears, poles, posts, fences, fuelwood and charcoal. Debarked roots used for wickerwork ; leaves, twigs and pods browsed by stock. Flowers appreciated by bees, gum of poor quality. Local phytotherapy : bark to treat dysentery, toothache, elephantiasis, vermifuge, snake-bite, leprosy, syphilis, gonorrhoea, antihelminthic, purgative, laxative and diuretic. Used also as an efficient defensive live fence, but difficult to control for its strong root competition and invasiveness. Nutritional Quality and Animal Production Van Rensburg (1968) found that it had a high crude protein content of 15 percent in the leaves and shoots, with 21.6 percent crude fibre, 1.53 percent Ca and 0.18 percent P. Aubréville 1950 ; Brenan 1957a ; Brenan 1959 ; Berhaut 1975 ; Dale & Greenway 1961, Geerling 1982/88 ; Karharo & Adam 1974 ; Von Maydell 1983/86 ; Burkill 1995. |