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Figure 3.5 The fruits of Albizia adianthifolia.
(www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/albiziadian.htm)
The fruit is a thin pod with a conspicuous margin and veins. As the pod dehisces and
opens up, the margins often persist as the centre parts falls off. The seeds are flat
and brown (Lewis et al., 2005).
Distribution
It usually occurs in moist tropical areas such as forests, as well as in areas that are
transitional to woodland. Geographically, it is distributed from the northern parts of
the Eastern Cape in South Africa, throughout the tropical countries up into Senegal
in the west and Ethiopia in the east of Africa. It also occurs on Madagascar (Krige,
2007).
Conservation status
Although this species is not threatened at the moment, over-exploitation and the
ring-barking of trees for the medicinally important bark are becoming more and more
common (Krige, 2007).
Medicinal uses
Aqueous lotions made from a pounded bark and roots are used for eczema and
other itchy skin complaints. Roots pounded in a small amount of water are used to
make drops for inflammation of the eyes. The bark is used to make love charm
emetics, and enemas are administered to pregnant women to clear their urine. It can
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