Common Name:

General Information

Julbernardia globiflora is a deciduous tree with a flat or rounded spreading crown; it can grow from 5 - 15 metres tall, exceptionally to 20 metres. The bole is often crooked, it can be branchless for up to 6 metres and up to 90cm in diameter. Sometimes the plant is shrubby, or flowering from coppice shoots, and can then be only 30 - 200cm tall[, ].
The plant is commonly harvested from the wild for local use, primarily as a source of fibre but also for its wood, tannin and medicinal applications. In rural areas in tropical Africa small quantities of the fibre are traded locally. Charcoal and wood from rural areas are also traded in order to supply towns. The tree is not cultivated, but wild trees are sometimes protected when the forest is cleared. The tree has ornamental value for its fragrant flowers and beautiful shape, and it also provides shade[].

Known Hazards

The root, bark and leaf have been recorded to be toxic: drinking an infusion of the leaf causes vomiting whilst drinking an infusion of the root or bark may cause a person to lose speech, to foam at the mouth and to roll about as if in pain[].
Infusions of the bark or root have been drunk as ordeal poisons[].

Botanical References

Range

East tropical Africa - Tanzania, Burundi, southeastern DR Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique.

Habitat

Deciduous woodland; often the commonest and dominant tree in Brachystegia areas; usually with B. spiciformis and forming tsetse-fly habitat; poor, residual plateau soils; escarpment slopes; at elevations from 490 - 1,950 metres[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	10.00 m
Pollinators	Bees
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Semi-cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A tree of drier areas in the tropics, being found at elevations from 250 - 2,000 metres. The ares in which it grows usually have a mean average annual rainfall below 1,000 mm, a dry season of 7 - 8 months, and are subject to regular fires[].
The tree is often found in the wild in drier areas and on poor soils[].
The tree has an extensive root system, with a maximum recorded lateral distance of 27 metres[].
Natural regeneration from seed is rare, but trees respond well to coppicing and resprout vigorously after cutting[].
Trees cut close to the ground (less than 5cm) when coppicing produce less regrowth than plants cut at a height of 1.3 metres[].
In dry miombo woodland in Zimbabwe the mean stem height of regrowth was 67cm at 1 year; 110cm after 2; 141cm after 3; 247cm after 9; and 517cm after 18 years[].
Plants only 1.5 metres tall can already produce seed, especially when of coppice origin[].
Trees often do not fruit yearly[].
Although many species within the family Fabaceae have a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria, this species is said to be devoid of such a relationship and therefore does not fix atmospheric nitrogen[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

Although toxic, various parts of the plant areused in traditional medicine in Africa.

Root decoctions are drunk for the treatment of depression and stomach problems[].

Bark fibres are chewed in case of constipation, whilst tannin from the bark has been used as a laxative[].
Decoctions of the bark are dropped into the eye as a remedy for conjunctivitis, and a bark infusion is used as a wash to contract the vaginal canal[].

Stem pieces are ground to a powder and than smoked as a treatment of leprosy[].

In case of snakebite, the leaves are rubbed into scarifications around the wound after the poison has been sucked out[].

Agroforestry Uses:

Farmers gather the leaf litter of this plant from adjacent woodlands in order to improve the soil fertility of their fields; this litter is sometimes moved to kraals and is composted with manure before being applied to the fields[].
The plant is a bee forage, yielding honey of very high-quality[].

Other Uses

The inner bark is a rich source of fibre. It is an important local source of string and rope, being used for purposes such as tying in traditional construction and was formerly made into bark cloth[].
The bark is used for making beehives; stitched canoes; bins and sack; the roll rings that are used to carry baskets on the head[].
Larger pieces of bark are used for making containers, seats and doors[].
In Zimbabwe, the bark fibre is used for making the warm and pliable 'gudza' cloth, which is made into garments and household items, such as storage bags and beer strainers[].
In southern Africa large sections of bark cut from mature trees were normally buried in the ground to loosen the corky outer layer, which was subsequently gradually loosened with special tools, so that only a sheet of fibres remained. This sheet could be stretched and softened to be used as a blanket[]. More commonly, the inner bark was woven or knotted to make 'gudza' cloth and 'nhova' bags[].
Fibre from the root is made into fishing lines[].
Long knives are used to cut the shape of the demanded piece from old old trees with straight boles and few branches, the shape is then torn off slowly from the stem. Smaller pieces of bark and strings are harvested traditionally without tools or by using small knives to tear off long bark strips[].

The bark yields a tannin used for dyeing[]. The bark contains 24.8% tannins[].

The heartwood is brown; it is distinctly demarcated from the up to 15cm wide band of pink or pale yellowish brown sapwood. The grain is interlocked, texture moderately coarse to coarse and uneven. The wood is lustrous, strong and hard. The heartwood is durable, but liable to attacks by pinhole borers, marine borers and termites. The sapwood is liable to powder-post beetle attack. The wood is difficult to work with hand and machine tools, blunting these tools rapidly; surfaces may tear during planing and moulding, and low speeds are recommended to improve results; the wood tends to split upon nailing, making pre-boring necessary, but it holds nails well; it is not well-suited for turning; steam-bending properties are moderate. The wood yields paper pulp of poor quality[]. The wood is used for poles, tool handles, mortars, yokes, harnesses and canoes. It is also suitable for railway sleepers, mine props, construction, flooring, shipbuilding, vehicle bodies, furniture, sporting goods, interior trim and joinery[].
The wood is widely used as fuelwood and for making charcoal[].

Propagation

Seed - germination takes 5 - 25 days, and germination rates of 73% have been recorded under field and laboratory conditions. The germination of seeds stored for a year was only 35%[]. Under experimental field conditions in Zambia, the seedling mortality rate was about 60% during the first year[].
Suckers.

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