Balanites aegyptiaca

Balanites aegyptiaca

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae

Clade: Angiosperms

Clade: Eudicots

Clade: Rosids
Order: Zygophyllales
Family: Zygophyllaceae

Genus: Balanites

Species: B. aegyptiaca

Binomial name

Balanites aegyptiaca
(L.) Delile, 1812

Synonyms[1]

Agialid aegyptiaca (L.) Kuntze

Ximenia aegyptiaca L.
Balanites aegyptiaca - MHNT

Balanites aegyptiaca is a species of tree,

classified either as a member of the
Zygophyllaceae or the Balanitaceae.[2] This
tree is native to much of Africa and parts
of the Middle East.[3]

There are many common names for this

plant.[4] In English the fruit has been called
desert date, soap berry tree or bush, Thron
tree, Egyptian myrobalan, Egyptian balsam
or Zachum oil tree;[5] in Arabic it is known
as lalob, hidjihi, inteishit, and heglig (hijlij).
In Hausa it is called aduwa, in Tamasheq,
the Tuareg language taboraq, in Swahili
mchunju and in Amharic bedena.[6]

Distribution
Balanites aegyptiaca is found in the Sahel-
Savannah region across Africa. It can be
found in many kinds of habitat, tolerating a
wide variety of soil types, from sand to
heavy clay, and climatic moisture levels,
from arid to subhumid.[7] It is relatively
tolerant of flooding, livestock activity, and
wildfire.[7]

Description
The Balanites aegyptiaca tree reaches
10 m (33 ft) in height with a generally
narrow form. The branches have long,
straight green spines arranged in spirals.
The dark green compound leaves grow out
of the base of the spines[5] and are made
up of two leaflets which are variable in
size and shape.[8] The fluted trunk has
grayish-brown, ragged bark with yellow-
green patches where it is shed.[5]

The inflorescence consists of bunches of

a few flowers which are either sessile or
are borne on short stalks. The flower buds
are ovoid and covered in a short
tomentose pubescence. The individual
flowers are greenish-yellow in colour,
hermaphroditic with five petals in radial
symmetry and are 8–14 millimetres (0.31–
0.55 in) in diameter. The pedicel of the
inflorescence is greyish in colour, downy
and usually less than 10 mm (0.39 in) in
length, although 15 mm (0.59 in) has been
recorded in Zambia and Zimbabwe. The
ellipsoid fruit is normally less than 4 cm
(1.6 in) long and is green when not ripe; it
ripens to a brown or pale brown fruit with a
crispy skin enclosing a sticky brown or
brown-green pulp around a hard stone.[9]

The carpenter ant Camponotus sericeus

feeds on the nectar exuded by the flowers.
The larva of the cabbage tree emperor
moth Bunaea alcinoe causes defoliation of
the tree.[7]

Cultivation
Food

Fruits of Balanites aegyptiaca from Saqqara. Mastaba

of Perneb, 5th dinasty of Egypt. MET.

Balanites aegyptiaca has been cultivated in

Egypt for more than 4000 years, and
stones placed in the tombs as votive
offerings have been found as far back as
the Twelfth Dynasty. The tree was figured
and described in 1592 by Prosper Alpinus
under the name 'agihalid'. Linnaeus
regarded it as a species of Ximenia, but
Adanson proposed the new genus of
Agialid. The genus Balanites was founded
in 1813 by Delile.[3]

The yellow, single-seeded fruit is edible,

but bitter.[7] Many parts of the plant are
used as famine foods in Africa; the leaves
are eaten raw or cooked, the oily seed is
boiled to make it less bitter and eaten
mixed with sorghum, and the flowers can
be eaten.[4] The tree is considered valuable
in arid regions because it produces fruit
even in dry times.[7] The fruit can be
fermented for alcoholic beverages.[8]

The seed cake remaining after the oil is

extracted is commonly used as animal
fodder in Africa.[8] The seeds of the
Balanites aegyptiaca have molluscicide
effect on Biomphalaria pfeifferi.[10]

Where the species coexist, African

elephants consume the desert date.[11]

Medicinal
Desert date fruit is mixed into porridge and
eaten by nursing mothers, and the oil is
consumed for headache and to improve
lactation.[4]

Bark extracts and the fruit repel[12] or

destroy[5] freshwater snails and copepods,
organisms that act as intermediary hosts
host the parasites Schistosoma, including
Bilharzia, and guinea worm, respectively.
Existing worm infections are likewise
treated with desert date, as are liver and
spleen disorders. A decoction of the bark
are also used as an Abortifacient and an
antidote for arrow-poison in West African
traditional medicine.[5]
The seed contains 30-48% fixed (non-
volatile) oil, like the leaves, fruit pulp, bark
and roots, and contains the sapogenins
diosgenin and yamogenin.[5][12] Saponins
likewise occur in the roots, bark wood and
fruit.[5]

Agroforestry

The tree is managed through agroforestry.

It is planted along irrigation canals and it
is used to attract insects for trapping.[7]
The pale to brownish yellow wood is used
to make furniture and durable items such
as tools, and it is a low-smoke firewood
and good charcoal.[7][8] The smaller trees
and branches are used as living or cut
fences because they are resilient and
thorny.[7][8][13] The tree fixes nitrogen.[7] It is
grown for its fruit in plantations in several
areas.[8] The bark yields fibers, the natural
gums from the branches are used as glue,
and the seeds have been used to make
jewelry and beads.[8]

Tattoos

Various Sahel tribes use the thorn of the

tree to make incisions that result in
tattoos. [14]

Etymology
The generic part of the binomial Balanites
derives from the Greek word for an acorn
and refers to the fruit, this name was
coined by Alire Delile in 1813.[9] in Descr.
Egypte, Hist. Nat. 221 1813.[1] The specific
name aegyptiaca was applied by Carl
Linnaeus as the species was initially
described from specimens collected in
Egypt.[15] However, according to ICBN Art
62.4:[16] "Generic names ending in -anthes,
-oides or -odes are treated as feminine and
those ending in -ites as masculine,
irrespective of the gender assigned to
them by the original author." Accordingly,
the orthographic variant name that
complies with ICBN Art 62.4 for this
species is Balanites aegyptiacus.

References
1. "Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile" . The
Plant List. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
2. "Zygophyllaceae" . The Plant List.
Retrieved 27 November 2016.
3. "Genus: Balanites Delile" . U.S. National
Plant Germplasm System. Retrieved
27 November 2016.
4. "BALANITACEAE" . Famine Foods. Robert
Freedman. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
5. Iwu, Maurice M. (1993). Handbook of
African medicinal plants. Boca Raton u.a.:
CRC Press. p. 129. ISBN 084934266X.
6. Yves Guinand and Dechassa Lemessa,
"Wild-Food Plants in Southern Ethiopia:
Reflections on the role of 'famine-foods' at a
time of drought" UN-OCHA Report, March
2000 (accessed 15 January 2009)
7. "Indigenous Multipurpose Trees of
Tanzania" (PDF). FAO. Retrieved
27 November 2016.
8. Daya L. Chothani; H. U. Vaghasiya (2011).
"A review on Balanites aegyptiaca Del
(desert date): phytochemical constituents,
traditional uses, and pharmacological
activity" . Pharmacognosy Review. 5 (9):
55–62. doi:10.4103/0973-7847.79100 .
PMC 3210005  . PMID 22096319 .
9. "Balanites aegyptiaca" (PDF).
worldagroforestry.org. Agroforestry
Database 4.0. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
10. Hamidou T. H., Kabore H., Ouattara O.,
Ouédraogo S., Guissou I. P. & Sawadogo L.
() "Efficacy of Balanites aegyptiaca(L.) DEL
Balanitaceae as Anthelminthic and
Molluscicid Used by Traditional Healers in
Burkina Faso". International Conference on
Emerging Infectious Diseases 2002. page
37. PDF
11. Kinloch, Bruce (1972). The shamba
raiders : memories of a game warden (3rd
ed.). Hampshire: Ashford. p. 217.
ISBN 1852530359.
12. Eshetu Molla; Mirutse Giday; Berhanu
Erko (2013). "Laboratory assessment of the
molluscicidal and cercariacidal activities of
Balanites aegyptiaca" . The Asian Pacific
Journal of Tropical Biomedicine. 3 (8): 657–
662. doi:10.1016/S2221-1691(13)60132-X .
PMC 3703561  . PMID 23905025 .
13. National Research Council (2008). "1.
Balanites aegyptica Desert Date". Lost
Crops of Africa Volume III Fruits . National
Acdemies Press. ISBN 0-309-10597-8.
14. Tapon, Francis "The History of Tattoos
in Africa" . Retrieved December 7, 2016.""
15. Umberto Quattrocchi (2016). CRC World
Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous
Plants: Common Names, Scientific Names,
Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology (5
Volume Set). CRC Press. pp. 519–520.
ISBN 1482250640.
16. "ICBN (Vienna Code) - Article 62" .
home.kpn.nl. Retrieved 2017-08-04.

External links
Balanites aegyptiaca in West African
plants – A Photo Guide.
Balanites aegyptiacus in BoDD –
Botanical Dermatology Database
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