Bauhinia rufescens Lam.

Leguminosae

Synonyms

• Piliostigma rufescens (Lam.) Benth.
• Adenolobus rufescens (Lam.) Schmitz
• Bauhinia adansoniana Guill. & Perrott.

Common names

Kharroub (the Sudan).

Description

Much-branched shrub or small tree reaching 5-8 m in height. Bark white to grey, smooth, fibrous and scaly in the old, slash pink. Twigs arranged in one plane like a fishbone, with ca 10 cm long thorn-like lignified lateral shoots. Leaves small, up to 2.5-4 cm long, glabrous, greyish green, bilobed almost to the base in cow-hoof shape, as in most species of the genus Bauhinia. Lobes semi-circular to ovate ; under humid conditions, B. rufescens is evergreen, under ordinary Sahel conditions, however, it behaves as a deciduous species. Flowers are greenish-yellow to white and pale pink, fragrant, clustered in small racemes with few individuals. Petals 5, spathulate, 15-20 mm long, 10 stamens, with filaments hairy at their base. Fruits aggregated in long, narrow, twisted pods, up to 10 cm long, with 4-10 seeds. Pod almost black, often twisted, 6.5 to 8.5 cm long, several-seeded.

Soil

Site requirements unassuming, on dry, stony, sandy sites, also on clayey to lateritic soils, often in fallow land.

Distribution

The whole Sahel and North Sudanian ecozones from Mauritania to the Rep. of Sudan and Ethiopia.

Crop management

Easy to manage as browsed hedge, recovers quickly and abundantly after browsing.

Propagation

Propagation by seeds after treatment with boiling water and slow cooling gives 40 % germination ca ; 9,000-10,000 seeds per kg.

Products & uses

Skerman (1966) reported this to be the most palatable browse for camels in the Sudan. Excellent browse plant 13 + / -2 % CP in foliage; 5.0 + / - 2 Mj NE / kg DM., Foliage digestibility ca 51 % on the DM. Forage appreciated by all stock and many wildlife species ; species threatened with extinction in overstocked areas. Pods are appreciated by dromedaries. The inner bark fibres are used for plaiting and binding. B. rufescens constitutes a good live-fencing. Stems and branches are usually too thin for timber or service wood. Root extracts are anti-pyretic, astringent, pods for diarrhoea, dysentry and ophtalmia, or as tonic drink. Bark from the stem used to treat syphilis, veneral diseases and leprosy.

References

Aubréville 1950 ; Hutchinson et al. 1958 ; Brenan 1957b ; Brenan 1958 ; Dalziel 1955 ; Catinot 1967 ; Giffard 1974a ; Kerharo & Adam 1974 ; Berhaut 1975 ; Nebout & Toutain 1978 ; Geerling 1982/88 ; Von Maydell 1983/86 ; Le Houérou 1980a ; Le Houérou 1980c ; Le Houérou 1980d ; Baumer 1983 ; Burkill 1995.