This species is often confused with Albizia zygia[].

Common Name:

General Information

Albizia glaberrima is a deciduous tree with a flattened, umbrella-shaped crown; it can grow up to 30 metres tall. The bole can be straight and cylindrical, or can be irregular; it is up to 100cm in diameter[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a source of medicines and wood.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Guinea Bissau east to Kenya and south to Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique; also in Comoros and western Madagascar.

Habitat

Most commonly found in semi-deciduous forest, but sometimes also in logged-over evergreen forest and in evergreen bushland. It is often characteristic of secondary forest[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	25.00 m
Growth Rate	Slow
Pollinators	Bees, Insects
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Requires a sunny position, even when small[].
A slow-growing tree[].
Trees can be coppiced and pollarded[].
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[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The bark is applied externally as a wash to treat fever. A cold water extract of the root bark is used to treat bilharzia[]. The dried, pulverized twig bark is applied to scarifications to treat blenorrhagia[]. A decoction of the twig bark is drunk against chest pain[].

A decoction of the root, in a mixture with other plant ingredients, is used as a bath to treat anaemia[]. The ash of burned roots is applied to scarifications to treat liver complaints[].

Agroforestry Uses:

A good shade tree, it is planted to provide shade in coffee, tea, banana and cocoa plantations[].

Other Uses

The heartwood varies from dirty white to reddish brown, sometimes with darker stripes; it is distinctly demarcated from the white sapwood, which is up to 75mm wide. The grain is straight, sometimes interlocked, texture moderately coarse[]. The wood is moderately heavy, it saws and works well, with little blunting of saw teeth and tool edges. A reduced cutting angle is required to prevent tearing in planing operations. A filler is needed to obtain a smooth finish. The nailing, screwing and gluing properties are satisfactory. The wood does not turn well. It is moderately durable, with some resistance to termite attack, but susceptible to pinhole borers and marine borers[]. The wood is used for furniture, construction, stools, beehives, tool handles, grain mortars, doors and beds. It is also suitable for light and heavy flooring, interior trim, joinery, mine props, shipbuilding, vehicle bodies, railway sleepers, toys and novelties, boxes and crates, carving and plywood making[].
The wood is used for fuel and for making charcoal[].

Propagation

Seed - it has a hard seedcoat and may benefit from scarification before sowing to speed up 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.

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