Description
A tall, fast-growing thorny savanna tree with pale, flaking bark and long white spines along its branches.
Medicinal Uses
Root extracts are used traditionally for snakebite and to calm agitated children; the pungent-smelling roots are also believed to repel snakes and crocodiles.
Food Uses
Gum exuded from the trunk and the seeds are edible.
Cultivation
A fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing tree used in agroforestry and hedging; the bark is used in tanning and the gum in confectionery.
