Acacia albida 10 cm long, very fragrant. (Faidherbia albida) FRUIT: Pods conspicuous bright orange to red‑brown, twisted and curled, thick, hard and shiny, to 25 cm long by 3.5 cm wide, Indigenous containing 10–20 seeds which ripen at the end of the dry season. Pods do not split Am: Grar Eng: Apple-ring , winter thorn open but rot on the ground to release seed. Ga: Kertor Seedlings have leaves like those of mature Or: Gerbi, Derot —an aid to identification. Sh: Momona Tg: Aqba, Garsha, Momona Propagation Ecology Seedlings, direct sowing at site. Widespread in semi‑arid in a wide Seed range of soil types and in different climates. 7,500–10,000 seed per kg. Germination In Ethiopia it occurs in Dry, Moist and Wet 60—90% within 5—20 days. Weyna Dega agroclimatic zones. It does well on occasionally waterlogged land in Treatment: Pour boiling water over seed, Tigray, Gonder, Welo, Shoa, Arsi, Harerge, allow to cool and soak for 24 hours. Sidamo, and Gamo Gofa regions, up to Alternatively, nick the seed at the distal 2,600 m. (cotyledon) end. Storage: Can be stored indefinitely if Uses kept cool, dry, and insect free. The seed Firewood, charcoal, timber (construction), are, however, very susceptible to insect posts, utensils, food (pods for flavouring, attack, so in practice avoid storage. boiled seeds), medicine (bark), fodder (pods, leaves), shade, mulch, nitrogen Management fixation, soil conservation, soil Slow initial growth, later fairly fast growing improvement, windbreak, tannin, dye, on good sites; lopping, pollarding. soap, fence (cut branches). Remarks Description The species is sometimes calledFaidherbia A large leafy 15–30 m, with a wide albida because so many of its parts are rounded crown when mature, sometimes unlike those of any other Acacia. It is deciduous. BARK: Grey‑brown, rough; intercropped with sorghum, teff and millet. young twigs pale grey and zigzag. Deep‑rooted so does not compete with THORNS: Straight to 2 cm long . food crops. Fallen pods, rich in protein, can LEAVES: Compound, 3–10 pairs of also be eaten (people and ) at the pinnae, leaflets round tipped, grey- beginning of the rains. At that time also green, little dot glands just visible where fallen leaves provide mulch for crop growth. the pinnae grow out of the leaf stalk. FLOWERS: In dense creamy spikes about

56 | Useful Trees and Shrubs of Ethiopia Photo: Patrick Maundu

The Species | 57