''Boscia salicifolia'' is a deciduous tree with narrowly ovate to linear leaves that grows up to 12 meters in height, it is within the
Capparaceae
The Capparaceae (or Capparidaceae), commonly known as the caper family, are a family of plants in the order Brassicales. As currently circumscribed, the family contains 33 genera and about 700 species. The largest genera are '' Capparis'' (about ...
family.
Description
It is a dark-grey barked short to medium sized tree with a short but brittle trunk, the bark is often scaly or rough with white
lenticels
A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...
; it sometimes has dropping branches with drooping leaves.
Leaves, alternate, with a
leathery surface, commonly glabrous above with short fine hairs beneath; leaf-blade is narrowly ovate to linear;
petiole is 8-15 mm long.
Inflorescence is an axillary raceme or panicle; flowers are green to yellowish in color.
Fruit is a spherical berry.
Distribution
Occurs in the
Sahel
The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...
and
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
savannah vegetations of West Africa, eastwards towards Somalia and southwards towards Botswana and Mozambique. Common on termite mounds, dry lands, hills,
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
and sandy soils.
Chemistry
Test on the leaves of the species identified the presence of flavonoid
glycosides
In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...
including, rhamnetin 3-O-b-neohesperidoside, rhamnocitrin 3-0-b-glucopyranoside and rhamnetin 3-0-b-glucopyranoside.
Uses
In some parts of Africa, the leaves of ''Boscia salicifolia'' are prepared as a vegetable soup. In traditional medical practice, plant extracts are utilized to help heal wounds,
used as a
dewormer
Deworming (sometimes known as worming, drenching or dehelmintization) is the giving of an anthelmintic drug (a wormer, dewormer, or drench) to a human or animals to rid them of helminths parasites, such as roundworm, trematoda, flukes and tapew ...
and as a decoction to treat tuberculosis, joint pains and ear infections.
Root bark extracts is used as an aphrodisiac.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2911445
Flora of East Tropical Africa
Flora of Tanzania
salicifolia