Common Name: Silver Butterfly Tree

General Information

Silver butterfly tree is a much branched, climbing shrub or tree growing 4 - 15 metres tall. The branchlets are often armed with pointed short lateral shoots[]. It its native dry savannah habitat, the tree is often scraggy, stunted and multi-stemmed[]. The plant is deciduous in the drier parts of its range, but retains its foliage in the moister areas[].
A valuable multipurpose tree in its native environment, where it is gathered from the wild for its medicinal uses, tannins, fibre and timber. It is sometimes planted in villages and is widely grown outside its native range as an ornamental[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Sub-Saharan tropical Africa - Mauritania to Sierra Leone, east to Sudan.

Habitat

Wooded savannah; edges of seasonal ponds; riverbanks; bases of dunes; sandy, humid soils; also on laterite and rocky soils; sand on sandstone; sandy clayey soils; sometimes in pure stands; at elevations up to 900 - 1,020 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Semi-deciduous Shrub
Height	10.00 m
Growth Rate	Slow
Pollinators	Bees
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the drier tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 800 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 30 - 40°c, but can tolerate 20 - 46°c[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 400 - 1,000mm, but tolerates 250 - 1,200mm[].
Prefers a fertile, moisture-retentive but well-drained soil and a position in full sun[]. Tolerant of dry, sandy soils as well as stony, clayey and lateritic soils[]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 7.5, tolerating 5 - 8[].
Growth of young plants in their native environment is fairly slow, with a height of 1 metre expected after 2 years where the annual rainfall is 500 mm[].
The plant regenerates quickly and abundantly after browsing[].
This species is very similar to the Asian species B. Racemosa[].
Bees are attracted to the flowers[].
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

Seedpod[]. (The report actually said fruit).

Medicinal

The bark is astringent[]. It is used in the treatment of dysentery[]. The bark of the roots and trunk is used to cure chest complaints, syphilis and other venereal diseases, leprosy, diarrhoea and dysentery and to reduce fever[].

The root is antipyretic and astringent[]. It is used in the treatment of intermittent fevers[].

The leaves and fruit are used in the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery[].
The leaves are used externally in the form of a decoction for treating the eye diseases[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The plant can be trained to make a good hedge[]. It makes a good, impenetrable, browse-resistant barrier[].
It can be planted on dunes to help stabilize and control them[].

Other Uses

A fibre obtained from the inner bark is used for making ropes[, , ].

The bark is a source of tannins[, , ].

The light-brown wood is fine-grained. It is used in carpentry, joinery and for carving[, ].
The wood is used for fuel and to make charcoal[].

Propagation

Seed - it has a hard seedcoat and needs 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. Trees are normally ready for planting out 4 - 6 months after germination[].
Cuttings of half-ripe wood, with the leaves removed, placed in moist sand[]. Good rooting has been observed on cuttings, with 85% producing roots in 2 weeks. The cuttings rooted better in a sand or a sand-gravel mixture, and upper nodes rooted better than basal nodes[].

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