Fabaceae FAMILY

Xeroderris stuhlmannii

Edibility

1/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

The seeds are said to be toxic if eaten raw, but safe to eat if well cooked^[1]. Although they are used medicinally, root decoctions can reportedly have a violent action on the intestines, causing strong emesis and possibly causing loss of sight^[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree

Growth—

The plant grows particularly on well-drained soils, also succeding on poor sandy soils^[1]. Established plants are drought resistant^[1]. The tree tolerates pruning, pollarding and coppicing^[1]. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria; these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby^[2].

Propagation

Seed - the germination rate is up to 70% within 2 weeks from sowing^[1]. Suckers^[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Xeroderris+stuhlmannii>

Pollinators

Insects

References

[1]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.
[2]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.
[3]African Flowering Plants Database — Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. · http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php ↩︎Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.