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Parkia biglobosa
Fabaceae FAMILY

Parkia biglobosa

Parkia biglobosa

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The bark and pods contain substances toxic to fish - the alkaloid parkine that occurs in the pods and bark may be responsible[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree
GrowthMedium

Adapted to a wide ecological range, African locust bean is found naturally in the drier lowland tropics at elevations below 600 metres[2]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 28 - 40°c, but can tolerate 8 - 44°c[3]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range mm, but tolerates mm[3]. It prefers a strongly seasonal climate with a dry season of 4 - 8 months[1, 2]. Grows best in a sunny position[3]. Prefers well-drained, deep, sandy to loamy cultivated soils, but it is also found on shallow, skeletal soils and thick laterites[1, 3]. Prefers a pH in the range 4.5 - 5.5, tolerating 4 - 6[3]. The plant has a deep taproot system and an ability to restrict transpiration, this gives it the capacity to withstand drought conditions once it is established[1]. Young trees have a slow rate of growth[4]. Growth is comparatively fast: seedlings may reach a height of 1 metre within the first year, and young trees of superior provenances can reach 7 metres tall in 6-year-old plantations[5]. Trees start flowering at 5 - 7 years while still comparatively small. They reach their maximum height after 30 - 50 years, and can reach an age of 100 years[5]. Trees in some areas have two flowering periods each year[5]. The tree produces root suckers[4]. There are conflicting reports on whether or not this tree has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, so it is unclear as to whether this tree fixes atmospheric nitrogen[6].

Propagation

Seed - it has a hard seedcoat and benefits from scarification before sowing in order to speed up and improve germination. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water on the seeds (being careful not to cook them!) and then soaking them for 12 - 24 hours in warm water. By this time they should have imbibed moisture and swollen - if they have not, then carefully make a nick in the seedcoat (being careful not to damage the embryo) and soak for a further 12 hours before sowing. The plant forms two different types of seed in each pod, reddish-dark ones and black ones[1]. The reddish dark have thinner seed coats and germinate more easily and quickly, even without scarification[1]. Young plants quickly form a deep taproot so it is best to sow the seed in individual, deep containers. Usually about 75% of all the seeds will germinate[1]. Seedlings can be ready to plant in their permanent positions when they are 10 - 14 weeks old[4]. Cuttings of mature wood[1]. Grafting. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Parkia+biglobosa>

Pollinators

Bats, Bees, Insects

References

  1. [1]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
  2. [2]Seed Leaflets — Various · Forest & Landscape. Denmark · http://en.sl.life.ku.dk/Publikationer/Udgivelser/PopulaerPublikationer.aspx?katid={D28373CC-6EF3-4EF8-B097-6D83FABF209E}&serieid={9F1C3DB1-6E7B-4CF1-AF53-F480B0CB40EF}&sort=title ↩︎A series of leaflets, jointly produced by the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, focussing on seed information for a number species, but also giving a lot of other information about each plant.
  3. [3]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  4. [4]Trees and Shrubs of the Sahel. Their Characteristics and Uses. — von Maydell H. · Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit; Germany · 1990 · ISBN 3-8236-1198-4 ↩︎A well-researched book, usually with more than one photograph of each species and good information on the plant and its uses.
  5. [5]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  6. [6]Nodulation Plants in GRIN Taxonomy — United States Department of Agriculture · http://www.ars-grin.gov/~sbmljw/cgi-bin/taxnodul.pl?language=en ↩︎An online database listing plants that have either positive or negative reports on root and stem nodulation with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
  7. [7]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  8. [8]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  9. [9]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.