Common Name: Aizen

General Information

Boscia senegalensis is an evergreen shrub or tree that can vary considerably in size according to habitat. In extreme aridity it shrinks to a scrawny shrub less than 2 metres tall, but in favourable environments it soars several times that height and becomes almost tree-like with a rounded, spreading crown[].
An important local food plant in the regions where the plant grows wild, since it is capable of surviving even in the harshest of arid environments. It is widely exploited for its fruits and seeds, whilst also providing medicines and a source of materials. The plant is also widely used as a repellent to protect stored food from pests and is planted in soil protection schemes[]. The fruits are commonly sold in local markets[].

Known Hazards

The seed is poisonous and has to be carefully leached in order to remove the toxic principle prior to consumption[].

Botanical References

Range

Africa - Senegal and Mauritania east through the Sahel to Egypt, Somalia and Kenya.

Habitat

It occupies most types of arid-land environment including stony slopes, sand dunes, and cracking-clay plains[]. It often occurs in desiccated, barren, hard, and even fire-scorched sites[]. It often sprouts directly out of termite mounds[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Shrub
Height	8.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the arid tropics and subtropics where it can be found at elevations up to 1,450 metres[]. This plant's endurance is remarkable. It tolerates shade temperatures as high as 45°c, a level not rare in its habitat; it also survives in areas receiving as little as 100mm annual rainfall, although it grows best where there is at least 250 - 500mm[].
Requires a sunny position. Prefers sandy-clayey soils, fixed dunes, abandoned croplands and termite mounds[]. Succeeds even in very dry, poor, sandy, rocky, worn-out laterite, or clay soils[, ].
Contributing to the plant's built-in drought tolerance is its remarkable leaf structure: the cuticle is up to 20 microns thick, the stomata are sunk in deep cavities, and each stomata has thickened walls and a protective armouring of papillae[].
The flowers provide bee forage, often in areas where little else capable of sustaining honeybees is available[].
Although the fruit is a seasonal food, its season differs from the norm and comes at the beginning of the rains, a time when farm crops are just being planted and anything to eat is usually difficult to find[].

Edible Uses

The yellow cherry-sized berries (up to 15mm in diameter) are borne in clusters. When newly ripe, their rather sweet pulp is translucent and jelly-like. However, in the desiccating air it quickly dries out, turning into something not unlike caramel before ending up a brittle, brown, and quite sugary solid[]. Despite its good taste, this toffee-like treat is difficult to separate from the seed[]. Besides being eaten fresh, the ripe fruits are often boiled[].
The juice is sometimes extracted, filtered, and boiled down into a semisolid, which is commonly mixed with millet and curdled milk to make cakes[].

The dried seeds are used as a substitute for millet or lentils[]. They require lengthy preparation and must be eaten cooked[]. The traditional procedure involves soaking the seeds for a week (changing the water daily) to remove bitter components[]. Less commonly, the seeds are boiled for 3 hours (and rinsed at least twice with new water)[]. In either case, they are subsequently dried and ground into flour and used in making porridge[].

The roasted seed is used as a substitute for coffee[].

Young roots, scraped of bark, may be ground, sieved, mixed with cereals, and boiled into a thin gruel or thick porridge[]. They are very sweet[]. The roots can be sun-dried and stored for later use[].
The root tissues are also boiled slowly for several hours to make a sweet syrup[].

The leaves, although just about the most leathery and least appealing foodstuffs on earth, are also consumed[]. Most are dropped into soups or boiled and mixed into cereal products such as gruel or couscous[]. The plant is particularly useful this way because it is an evergreen and provides food and nutrients when other plants are bare[].

Medicinal

The leaves are used as a treatment against bilharziosis, guinea-worm sores, haemorrhoids, intestinal complaints, headaches, colic and ulcers[].
An emulsion of the leaves is used as an eyewash[].

The roots are vermifuge[].

The fruits are used in the treatment of syphilis[].

The plant (part not specified) is used in the treatment of jaundice and swellings[].

Agroforestry Uses:

Aizen is a promising plant for establishing famine-food reserves, for protecting erodible soil, for stabilizing dunes, for windbreaks, and for other utilitarian purposes in the harshest of harsh sites[]. Its foliage is unpalatable to livestock and other herbivores, who only eat it in times of direst need. Thus the trees are able to survive without the need for protection[].

Other Uses

The leaves are added to granaries in order to protect stored foods against pests[]. This long-standing traditional process seems to work[]. Leafless twigs contain glucosinalates, which can hydrolyze to mustard oils, which are highly toxic and irritant to mucous membranes[].

The plant contains natural coagulants. The bark, twigs, leaves, and roots are used to scavenge suspended and colloidal compounds from unclean water (such as that from ponds churned up by storms or from baobab-tree cisterns contaminated with soil). Normally the plant parts are sliced up and placed on the water surface. Compounds leach out and catch the clay and other particulates like magnets, causing them to clump and settle to the bottom. It is reported that truly turbid water can be safely drunk after just a day of such treatment[]. For even faster results, aizen branches are swirled in the water[].

Aizen wood is soft and easy to work when boiled[]. It is cut for poles, notably those holding up houses[].
Although smoky and stinky, the wood is used as cooking fuel when nothing better is at hand (which in the harshest areas is all too often)[].

Propagation

Seed - Although the seeds germinate readily, the seedlings have so far proved difficult to transplant from nursery to field. Thus, it is recommended that direct-seeding trials be established to find out how to establish healthy populations in situ[]
There are claims that root and shoot cuttings have been used to propagate aizen[]. This could be a vital lead because with them superior plants can be replicated[].
The possibility of grafting should be explored, because it would allow elite aizen types to be grafted onto the wild trees now so prevalent and widespread. That in turn would ensure rapid quality-fruit production. Also, it would provide lasting benefits because of the rootstock’s obvious adaptability to the site[].

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Captcha: if i have 3 bananas, and i eat them all, how many bananas did i just eat?