Detarium microcarpum
Scientific name: Detarium microcarpum Guill. & Perr.
Family: Fabaceae
Habitat
Drier areas in open forests; wooded savannas; depression, colluvium, deep sand on laterite, sometimes planted; also abundant on fallow land, on various types of soils.
Edible Uses
The fruit is sweet and commonly eaten fresh, while the pulp is used in the preparation of cakes and couscous. The fruit is about 4cm long and 2.5cm wide.
The fruits can be stored for 1 – 3 years in jute bags. The pulp of the fruit is used as a substitute for sugar. The seeds and leaves are eaten as a condiment and vegetable. The seeds are dried and ground into a flour. This is used as a traditional emulsifying, flavouring and thickening agent. The seeds contain a high content of gum (water-soluble polysaccharides).  This gum can be used to increase the water absorption of wheat flour and the mixing tolerance index of the dough significantly. Oil-water emulsions stabilised by the seed flour or gum tolerate freezing and thawing better than commercial salad dressing, egg powder and gum tragacanth emulsions. Addition of the gum to fruit products such as mango, orange, pineapple or tomato, improved their stability in storage (at 26°C) for at least 2 months and was well acceptable to consumers.
Medicinal
The bark, leaves and roots are widely used throughout the plant’s native range because of their diuretic and astringent properties. Modern research has verified the presence of medicinally active compounds. The bark has been found to contain 2 tetranorditerpenes, the clerodane diterpenes catechine and cis-2-oxokolavenic acid (0.5%), the diterpene copalic acid (1.7%) and coumarin (1%).
An ethanol extract of the bark has demonstrated antimicrobial action against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter freundii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Listeria monocytogenes. The extract also showed moderate antitumor activity against breast cancer cells.
The flavones present in a methanol extract of the plant showed strong inhibitory effects on HIV-1 or HIV-2 infection.
A bark extract showed significant molluscicidal activity against Lymnaea natalensis.
The bark, leaves and roots are prepared as infusions or decoctions to treat a wide range of ailments including rheumatism; venereal diseases and urogenital infections; haemorrhoids; caries; problems of the digestive system such as biliousness, stomach-ache, intestinal worms, diarrhoea and dysentery. They are also used against malaria, leprosy and impotence.
Applied externally, the fresh bark or leaves are used to treat wounds, to prevent and cure infections.
A decoction of the powdered bark is widely taken to alleviate pain such as in headache, sore throat, back pain and painful menstruation. The bark is also used to treat measles, nocturia, hypertension, itch and tiredness.
A decoction of the leaves or roots is taken to treat paralysis, meningitis, tiredness, cramps and difficult delivery.
A decoction of the leaves is taken to treat fainting and convulsions.
The leaves, combined with the leaves of Sclerocarya birrea and Acacia macrostachya, and pounded in milk, are considered a very efficient treatment for snakebites.The powdered seeds are applied to skin infections and inflammations.
The fruit is eaten to cure meningitis and malaria. A preparation of the fruits is taken to treat dizziness.
Externally, the fruit pulp is used for treating skin infections.
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