Fabaceae FAMILY

Senegalia nigrescens

Edibility

0/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

Especially in times of drought, many Acacia species can concentrate high levels of the toxin Hydrogen cyanide in their foliage, making them dangerous for herbivores to eat.

Botanical Description

Senegalia nigrescens is a spiny, deciduous tree with a conical crown when young, becoming more rounded as it gets older. It usually grows up to 20 metres tall, exceptionally to 30 metres, with a bole that is usually straight and up to 75cm in diameter. The bole usually has many prickles growing on large knobs, but these are often absent in old trees, The smaller branches have pairs of hooked, blackish prickles up to 7 mm long just below the nodes[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ]. The tree is harvested from the wild, mainly for its timber, though it does also have minor medicinal applications. It is used locally.

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeEast Africa - Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, S. Africa.

HabitatWoodland and bushland, commonly near rivers, usually on shallow soils on rocky hillsides and on alluvial soils in the valleys; often common and locally dominant on loamy soils. Found at elevations up to 1,200 metres, exceptionally to 1,600 metres[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ].