Pithecellobium dulce

Pithecellobiun dule is a good example why botanical names are much more precise than common names. The English name, Madras thorn is copied in Swahili by mkwaju wa kihindi [Tamarind of India] but the tree actually comes from tropical America!
It tolerates drier and less fertile areas because it fixes nitrogen which helps it survive the rigors of climate. However it also grows well in places like Dar es salaam, where I collected most of our seed.

Description: A thin, shrub with no apical dominance, but also grows to a large, muli-branched tree to 15 metres. It carries sharp, thin spines at the base if each leaflet and sometimes on branches. Bark is pale grey/brown, smooth with horizontal marks. Leaves are on thin stalks with two pairs of leaflets, each >5cm, rounded with the tip notched. Flowers are small and cream - yellow with green/white stamens. In bunches and on short stalks. Fruit are heavy, twisted pods <12cm, constricted between seeds. Red when Mature and splitting to release glossy black seeds surrounded by a red and white fleshy edible aril.

Uses: Firewood, timber and poles - soft and easy to work and durable, food and drink from the fleshy aril, fodder - pods and leaves, bee forage, soil conservation, shade, live fence [trimmed], gum from the bark and oil from the seeds.

Propagation: There are >20 000 seeds per kg and can be stored for up to a year. Seeds can be direct sown after soaking in water for 6 hours, resulting in 95% germination after 2 weeks.

I have not seed the fruit used as a food except for young kids in Dar es Salaam. Rural people do not seem to trust the fruit whereas in India it is well known.
I suspect the species could become a weed because of its ability to colonize less productive areas - I am not sure about my attitude to this.
Spines in the nursery make it a little uncomfortable to work with sometimes.
If pods are not collected by people livestock and monkeys soon clean them up.

Carica papaya

Papaya, pawpaw or in Swahili, Mpapai is not actually a tree, rather a herb that can grow up to 8 metres. It is a short lived tree grown in mild tropical climates and performs best in Tanzania under 1500 metres above sea level but will grow to higher altitudes. The plant carries either male flowers of female.

Description: Mpapai grows with a naked trunk with a crown of palmate leaves. The trunk can be as thick as 20 cm. The trunk is principally fibre and not very strong. Bark is pale grey and smooth, bumpy where there are old leaf scars. Leaves are up to 60 cm and deeply palmate with hollow 60 cm stalks. Flowers on the male tree are on drooping stalks and a yellow-cream colour and on the female flowers are fewer and beside leaves on the trunk. Waxy petals and cream.Fragrant. Sometimes a male tree will bear fruit and sometimes both sexes are on the same plant. Fruit take about three months to mature round to that of a rugby ball with a thin, green skin ripening to orange. Sweet yellow to orange - almost red flesh inside with many black seeds. A hollow center.

Uses: Fruit, drink, medicine, meat tenderizing [leaves and fruit] removing spines of sea urchins from feet.

Propagation: The seeds are light, 20 000 per kg with viability three years if stored in dry conditions. Take from fruit, clean and dry. Some say that the white seeds are male - not in my experience. Sow direct into pots 3 -5 seeds and germination is 2 -3 weeks. The plant does not tolerate root disturbance. In a plantation 1 male to 50 female is about best. I was never able to tell if a seedling was male or female.

Generally the plant produces well for up to four years, then needs replacing. In the old days orchards were established to harvest the gum but those chemicals seem now to be made synthetically.
Stephen had a grove of special breed Mpapai with large fruit and almost red flesh. I used to buy fruit from him and give the fruit around our village on the expectation that the seed was returned to me.
Many of those plants grew well in the villages but unless the seed was harvested and cross breeding with inferior plants, it is not very likely that such fruit can be found there now.

Psidium guajava

Psidium guajava is the guava tree well known for the canned fruit we have in our Christmas fruit salad, or in Swahili, Mpera. I always get my Swahili vowels mixed up so I might say, Mpera which is a hose!
Psidium guajava origins from South America and is grown for its fruit in India. In Tanzania it is a very useful tree because it tolerates a wide range of conditions but does not like wet feet.
Guava fruits readily and at a young age with vitamin rich fruit. Actually children tend to take unripe fruit - hard and sour and I have no idea of the vitamin content.

Description: A small evergreen tree less than 8 metres high. With no apical dominance. Bark is smooth and light brown with older pieces flaking off. Young shoots are four-sided. Leaves are opposite and oval 15 cm with defined veins. Underside is hairy. Flowers are white 1-3 together, with many stamens. 2 cm across. Fruit yellow when ripe, rounded and 6 cm long the calyx lobes remain on the fruit. The flesh is sweet and gritty with many seeds. Pink when ripe.

Uses: Fruit, soil conservation and shade. The other uses mean the tree will be cut down and that is not ideal but it is goof for firewood, and posts. There are some medicinal uses.

Propagation: There are about 500 000 seeds per Kg although the seeds are hard, they can be direct sowed without and treatment or nicking. Mostly I would sow direct into a pot [2 seeds] and cover with sawdust and some marram to hold it down.
Trees begin to fruit in 2 years with a long lifespan. Throughout the world there are cloned and improved varieties. I preferred the unimproved as it is a stranger tree. The difficulty is finding ripe fruit in private yards is best because they do not utilize the whole crop.
The wood is not eaten by termites.

Guava tends to have a root system that does not allow other crops to grow closely. It is an easy nursery crop and the village people are happy to grow the tree for its fruit.
I thank Fausta who had a very good tree on her property and gave me as much fruit as I needed. The seed is easy to extract and the fruit has a sweet smell.

Syzygium cuminii

Syzygium cuminii or java plumb and the Swahili, Mzambarau is a fruiting tree in Tanzania and kids like the sweet/sour fruit that is inclined to leave the mouth dry. You can always tell when kids have been eating it because their mouths are stained purple.
It is a tropical tree, indigenous to India, Myanmar and the Philippines and will grow in Tanzania to 1000 metres of higher in areas with adequate rainfall.

Description: A large tree up to 30 metres high, with a thick short trunk and large, leafy crown.
Bark is rough and dark but smoother and lighter in the branches. Leaves are opposite, large and oval to 20 cm - smooth and shiny, pointed. Aromatic when crushed. Young leaves are reddish especially the tips. Flowers are green/whitish in clusters below the leaves. Fruit are fleshy and purple when ripe up 2 cm long.

Uses: Food - fruit, tannin, dye, firewood (hopefully from dead fallen branches), timber - especially canoes, shade and soil conservation.

Propagation: There are 500 seeds per Kg and they lose viability very quickly. The seed is 1 cm long and splits in half (not longitudinally as you may expect). Direct sow in a pot, but not covered in soil, just lying on top. Shade to assist in germination. Once germinated it is easy to grow but when out planted needs shade to start off.

I found that eating (or getting people to) the fruit and keeping the seed proves not to be very successful. It is best to find a tree and ask kids to collect germinated seed. Sure plenty are eaten and as is normal when there is abundance, only the best are eaten and the remainder are left to rot. In the shade of the parent tree the seed readily splits with the cotyledons poking upwards and no root radicle showing. Kids easily pick these up and they are easily planted into a pot - job done!
A very useful tree for our work because the fruit is a good source of vitamin C.

Schinus molle

I like the name Schinus molle because it would be an excellent name for a Star Wars character, probably a crook! But it is a good example to avoid the use of common names. The Swahili name, Mpilipili is the only name used Tanzania but the other common names include Pepper tree, Chilean Pepper tree, Peruvian Pepper tree and Californian Pepper tree. Certainly the tree grows naturally in the Peruvian highlands, so South America will be its home.
The tree is tolerant to most soils and grows in warm/hot dry climates. It is drought resistant.

Description: A small tree up to about 15 metres, with drooping foliage. Usually the trunk is short and the tree has a roundish crown. Bark is dark grown/grey and flaking and sticky latex forms if the bark is damaged. Leaves are compound to 30cm with many narrow leaflets to 7cm - a pepper smell when crushed. Flowers are small and green/yellow. Fruit hanging on bunches [female trees] are small round berries pink/red when ripe.

Uses: The tree is most often used as a shelter tree, mainly shade, especially in dry areas. Grown with other (tree) crops it is said to deter termites. Firewood and charcoal tend to release pungent smoke, so is unpopular. The seeds have been blended with ordinary pepper but not in Tanzania.

Propagation: There are up to 40 000 seeds per Kg with 50% germination within 30 days. Sundry the fruit and pound with a mortar and pestle then blow away the dried flesh. There is no pretreatment necessary and seeds can be sowed directly. The seed can be stored for long periods.

I found the tree difficult to germinate in the nursery setting. It is sometimes grown as a shade crop with coffee but is susceptible to the same stem borer as the coffee plant.
Big E recommended inter-planting Grevillea robusta with Mpilipili to avoid termite attack - Grevillea is like ice cream to termites and it did not work.
Most village people see the tree as having no use other than shade and prefer more useful species, but my opinion is that a green tree is of use to the environment and in the village situation it is easier to grow as it requires less water to establish and is not browsed by goats.
The seeds can poison poultry, which is a warning, but hens usually are not interested in eating the seed.

Melia azedarach

Melia azedarach or Bead Tree and Mwarubaini nusu will grow in Tanzania from sea level to around 2000m and is often planted as an amenity tree in tropical or subtropical areas. It should not be planted near buildings though because branches break off in strong winds. But it is a useful tree in dry areas.

Description: A small tree up to 10 metres, usually deciduous. Bark is grey but when the tree is older the bark is rough and brownish with bumpy breathing pores. Leaves are compound on branched stalks up to 40 cm long, hanging in terminal bunches. The leaflets are slightly toothed. Flowers are striking lilac in clusters with each small flower having a purple centre. They are mildly fragrant. Fruits are fleshy yellow-orange, oval and in clusters. Each is 1.5cm long and they persist on the tree for a long time. Strip away the flesh to reveal a ribbed, hard bead with 4-6 black seeds inside. The seeds are poisonous.

Uses: Recommended for firewood [I have never burnt it but suggest the smoke may smell], poles, timber, bee fodder, shade, amenity, insecticide and dye.

Propagation: The species is a prolific seeder with 1 500 - 2 000 seeds per kg. They are difficult to extract because the bead is very hard. I cut the bead lengthwise and plant the half, often some seeds are damaged but others will germinate - but irregularly. In the bead, seeds will store foe two years.

The leaves are not browsed by livestock, giving a clue that people should not ingest them though a tea is used for stomach complaints - but you need to know what you are doing!
I put leaves in books and that keeps silverfish at bay. I also put leaves in bags of maize to keep weevils away and that too was successful.
To me the tree looks a bit scrawny without leaves, but for conservation it is a good tree to use. In many parts of Africa it has naturalized but I did find that harvesting seed took a long time. Looking for seedlings in the wild proved difficult and with a low transplant survival.

Azadiracha indica

Azadiracha indica is the Neem tree, or Mwarubaini kamili. And should not be confused with Melia azedarach.

The name Mwarubaini means that the tree has forty uses but in modern times the tree has been found to have around sixty.
At our nursery we found that it was too cold for the tree to perform well, though down the mountain at the King'ori turnoff some people were able to grow the species. It grows very well in the Dar es Salaam area - hot and humid.

Description: A fast growing medium-sized tree up to 20 metres high. It usually has a dense leafy canopy. Bark is grey/pale brown, grooved and rough as the tree matures. Leaves are compound, glossy green 40 cm. Each leaflet curved and pointed - saw-toothed. Flowers small and creamy white, fragrant, hanging in long sprays. Fruit are oval, yellow berries when ripe, 2 cm, thin skinned with 1 or 2 oily seeds.

Uses: Bee forage, medicinal, shade, insecticide, oil, soap manufacture.

Propagation: There are about 5000 viable seeds per kg, but seed does not store well and should be sown fresh. There is no need to strip the flesh from the berry but a nick at the round end is helpful. Because of the oily nature of the seed, it rots quickly.

The wood is tough and resistant to termites and decay.
In areas such as Dar es Salaam, wildlings can become a weed problem.
Neem oil us used extensively as as a green (organic) insecticide.
The similarity to Melia which is easy to grow in cooler areas, causes confusion and there is an expectation that it has similar uses. It has not.
Baraka made a concoction of Melia and drank it as a 'detox' - it did that alright! Harisha is the term - violent dysentery.

Sesbania sesban

Sesbania sesban - River bean - is an easily grown tree which can withstand water logging as well as dry conditions. It is quite rapid growing but has a relatively short lifespan. Sesbania can trimmed into a hedge.

Description: A short lived, sometimes deciduous shrub or tree growing to perhaps 8 metres.
Bark is red-brown and the young shoots are hairy. Leaves are compound to 12 cm with each leaflet being up to 2 cm with the tip being notched.
The flowers are yellow and speckled - in bunches.
The fruit are thin pale brown pods with seeds in separated sections so the seed rattle within.

Uses: Firewood, poles, stock fodder, shade, nitrogen fixation.

Propagation: Collect the pods which open when they are dry. There are 110 000 viable seeds per kg. The seeds can be stored for a long time. Hot water soak and direct sow. Germination 16 - 20 days (65%) therefore sow two seeds per pot.

I used Sesbania sesban as a shade tree in the nursery and did not experience it to be deciduous. I pruned to a single stem and crown out so I did not bump my head.
Sometimes a black caterpillar invaded the tree and if one fell down my neck it would itch!

One woman in Likamba used the tree as a wide-spaced hedge using the prunings to feed her zero grazed cow (a supplement really) the sticks that were not eaten, she collected and put on the low roof of her cow banga (shed). After just three days she used them in her fire to boil a sufaria of water to make tea.