Albizia gummifera

Albizia gummifera has been called Peacock Flower but the Swahili name of Mkenge is more understood in Tanzania.

A tree endemic to East Africa but is also found in West Africa, Ethiopian Zaire and Madagascar. In Tanzania it is found in rainforest from around 600 m - 2 600 m above sea level. There was a very large tree behind out house at Makumira.

Description: A large deciduous [or partly deciduous] tree to 15 m, with branches ascending to form a flat top. Trunk diameter >1 m. Bark is grey and smooth. Leaves are shiny and dark green with leaflets being rectangular and the veins diagonal. Flowers white/pink clusters with prominent stamens. Fruits are pods in bundles and shiny brown, flat with raised edges >20 cm long [sometimes shorter] and 3 cm wide containing 8 - 41 flat, brown seeds.

Uses: Firewood, general use timber, household utensils [no taste to the wood], beehives, traditional medicine, fodder, bee forage, soil conservation, nitrogen fixation, shade, shelter.

Propagation: There are >15 000 seeds per kg which can be stored for a year if kept dry and insect free. Germination is quick, 4 -12 days and with a rate of >80%.
Fresh seed will germinate without treatment but stored seed will need cold water soaking for 12 hours, better though is to nick the seed coat.
In the pot the seedling grows well and needs [or performs best] shade when first out-planted.
The tree is fast growing in good conditions and will coppice.

The gum makes a lather/soap, but despite the name, gum is not harvested from the tree. The pale brown heartwood is reasonably strong and is easy to work.
The nectar in the flower attracts monkeys, and they eat the whole flower. Monkeys can be raiders and damage other crops.
The leaves quicken the ripening of bananas when layered in unripe fruit.
Generally it a an attractive tree.

Acacia xanthophloea

We did not grow Acacia xanthophloea in the nursery because the tree is associated with areas where there is a high water table, so we did not have areas to plant them - though they would be good at Muriet village.
The Swahili name is Mgunga but as well there are a number of tribal names. The English Fever Tree came about (a) because the local people used a bark infusion as a malaria remedy and (b) because early Europeans associated malaria with the tree because mosquitoes live in the water where they grow, so they recognised the association.

Village authorities generally tend to prohibit the cutting of the tree because it grows in groups and the latent belief that it is a malaria cure - which it is not, though who knows maybe it was, because the parasite becomes resistant to treatments as time goes on.

The tree is easily recognised by its green-yellow bark and the fact that it usually grows in groups.

Acacia mearnsii

Acacia mearnsii is the (English) Black wattle, or in Swahili Muwati.

The tree is indigenous to Australia and has a wide natural range - from the hot Queensland in the North to cool Tasmania in the South. In Tanzania it is planted at higher elevation, 1,500 - 2, 500m and is planted on many homesteads.
At Lushoto commercial plantations were established for the extraction of tannin, but the operation seems to be in limbo.

Description: A small tree up to 15 m high. The tree often leans because of the shallow root system. Bark is grey and smooth when young becoming black and fissured with splits and curling with age. The split release brown resinous gum. Leaves are feathery and a dull green, leaflets are small. The stalks are10 - 12 cm long and there is a gland at the base. Flowers are pale yellow, small round heads on branched stalks - sweetly scented. Fruit are pods, either straight or or bent 5 - 10 cm jointed between the seeds. The pods dry to a dull brown colour.

Uses: Very good firewood and charcoal. Poles, posts and tool handles. Good bee forage (pollen), soil conservation, nitrogen fixation, fibre (bark), gum, tannin.

Propagation: There are 50 - 80 000 seeds per kg, they are black and hard and store well.
Germination is >80% if hot water soaked or exposed to fire. Nicking is a sure method but is fiddly because the seed is small.
The tree grows well in nursery pots and performs well at outplanting - responds to super phosphate.

I have grown this species in the NZ nursery as it is used as a chipping crop. However it can become a pest and will even survive amongst P. radiata plantings.
My opinion is that green trees are always good in Tanzania and climate will control its spread. Fuelwood is in short supply so controlling its spread. It does not have thorns.
Thin strips of fresh bark (from young trees) make good cordage - especially in making wattle and daub buildings - drying to be very firm.
The tree grows quickly but tends to be short-lived.
Termites damage the tree from time to time and sometimes there are fungal attacks.
However the tree is useful as cash crop on small scale farms.

Acacia albida

Acacia albida is also known botanically as Faidherbia albida and the Swahili name we used was Mgunga, which is known a a strong upright tree.
Mgunga is indigenous to the Middle East and much of Africa - the drier, semi-arid areas, as well as riverine zones in Tanzania where it will grow to an elevation of 1800m. The species generally prefers well drained soils.

Description: Mgunga is one of the tallest of the Acacias - to 30m, with a high rounded crown. It is deciduous often spring to life just before the rains. The branchlets tend to zigzag and are shiny grey. Bark is dull grey, fissured with scales. Thorns are in pairs and often pointing downwards - straight about 2cm. Leaves are compound 3 -8 pairs of pinnae each with 5-25 pairs of grey/green leaflets up to 1cm - rounded and overlapping. Flowers are slender spikes to 14cm, creamy white and attractive to bees, fragrant and appear before foliage. Fruit are distinctive twisted pods, twisted and brown-orange to 25cm long, thick - especially the edges, containing >20 distinctive, hard seeds.

Uses: Timber - local construction, firewood and charcoal, posts, utensils, food flavoring (pods), stock fodder (especially the fallen pods), shade, nitrogen fixation (soil conservation).

Propagation: There are >9000 seeds per kg with 75% viability. Seeds are able to be stored for a long period if kept dry and free from insect attack.
Nicking the seed before direct sowing provides the most even germination. Treating with hot water and soaking for 24 hours is effective but needs to be repeated on seeds that do not swell on the first attempt.

The pods fall to the ground and are much liked by livestock. Of all the indigenous trees that we supplied, Mgunga was the most widely accepted. This is because it is useful and farmers liked the fodder supplied.
In some areas where the tree was unknown, we had to do some talking for the species to be accepted.

After outplanting, the tree grows rapidly - which is a good thing because it does not have to be protected from browsing animals for an extended period.
The species is good to shade crops because it does not compete and enriches the soil.

Cordia africana

Cordia africana, or Mringaringa is a large tree that somehow always looks dry because of the colour of its foliage. Most usually I encountered the species standing alone in farms as a remnant of mixed forest cover. The smell of the flowers drew me to the tree.
Mringaringa was one of the indigenous trees that farmers were prepared to plant.
It is a forest tree and tolerates a wide variety of soils but does not tolerates extremes of drought.

Description: A much branched semi-deciduous tree with a rounded crown growing to about 12 metres. Bark is pale brown and finely grooved but rougher with age. The leaves are large and oval, slightly pointed at the tip and rounded at the base. The underside is covered with soft brown hairs. The leaves feel dry/leathery. Flowers are showy, with white petals and are funnel shaped, scented and attractive to bees.. Fruits are yellowish, 1 cm and in hairy cups. The flesh is sticky and each fruit contains 4-6 seeds.

Uses: Mringaringa is valued for its timber and makes fine furniture, roof shingles and traditional beehives; firewood, medicine (roots & bark), bee forage, shade in coffee plantations, soil conservation and is used as a boundary marker.

Propagation: There are >3000 seeds per Kg with a viability of around 70%. Fruits become ripe August/September. Seed stores for 1 year.
Soak seed in cold water for 12 hours prior to sowing directly into pots and the seedlings are big enough for outplanting after 1 year.
Protected trees establish quickly in the field.

The heartwood is hard and makes very nice bowls and furniture taking polish very well.
The tree does not compete greatly with crops like coffee because the leaves become mulch and as the shuts down, losing its leaves, it provides the opportunity for the soil to rehydrate.

Morus Species

Mulberry is a common tree in parts of Europe and the Middle East and while probably origination from temperate climates, it grows successfully in Tanzania.
There are actually three main species of Morus - alba, indica and nigra. The Swahili name is Mforasdi - usually for the larger fruiting alba and nigra; and the local name Mandela for the smaller fruiting indica. Indica is smaller in leaf and habit as well, but still I will lump these trees together here.

Description: A semi [sometimes] deciduous shrub, much branched <6 metres. Bark is grey and rough with age and resinous gum when cut - young wood has milky sap. Leaves are heart-shaped and toothed - alba having larger leaves and indica < 4cm. Dull green and with hairy underside. Flowers are separate sexes on the same tree - female with long soft hairs. Fruit are compound berries, red and turn black when ripe.

Uses: Fruit, fodder, also fodder for silk worms, fuel, shade, live fence.

Propagation: Easily struck from 8cm cuttings and grows quite fast.

Mandela is not popular because the fruit is small and insignificant but children eat them. However it is a very good tree for fodder as it regrows well, so good as a shelter fence that can be harvested.
The trick to be able to eat the fruit of the Black Mulberry is to beat the birds and monkeys. We had a tree outside our window and cheeky monkeys would regularly rob the pre-ripe fruit!
I was surprised how easily it is to propagate after buying Black Mulberry at home for an expensive price - and they did not perform well at all!
A vet called on me at Makumira wanting me to produce Mulberry trees in large number to start a silk industry - I was able to help him but by focus was not to set individuals up in their own industry. It turned out to be just an idea on his part, but it would be viable in the future.

Moringa oleifera

The English name Drumstick Tree refers to the mature seed pods, but it is also called Horse-radish because of the spice flavoring from the roots. The Swahili name is Mlonge.
The tree is indigenous to Indian but has been planted all over the tropics - probably by Indian people because it is a very useful tree.
The tree has naturalized in coastal East Africa and grows best to about 500m above sea level. The tree is quite drought resistant.

Description: A deciduous tree <10m high with pale, feathery foliage. Bark is thick and corky and in mature trees peels in patches. Leaves are pale green compound in groups of three along the stalk. the whole leaf is 30 - 50 cm. each leaflet is oval with the tip rounded < 2cm long. Flowers are cream to fading yellow in long sprays, fragrant and attracting insects. Fruit are long capsules/pods to about 45cm in triangular sections, splitting when ripe to release dark brown 3 winged seeds.Uses: Food - young leaves, young pods and also flowers. Spice flavoring from the young roots. medicine, fodder, bee fodder, oil (Ben oil), soil conservation, fibre, live fence and water purification from the seed cake.

Propagation: There are >5 000 seeds per kg with a viability of 60% and the seed may be kept for up to 1 year if kept dry.
Sow directly into pots or cold water soak for 6 hours prior - I never found this necessary.
Seedling grow quickly and establish well in good conditions.

The tree is very useful but the populations around Arusha/Meru don't know the species well well so do not utilize it. One Indian woman in Valeska had a tree growing there and used it well but really the climate is not suited to the species and generally it does not thrive at such altitudes.
I trialled it and found it difficult to grow in the nursery - I guess the night temperatures were too cold.

There was an Indian ma who came around the area wanting farmers to plant Mlonge trees and he guaranteed to come back to purchase the seed - in the event he never came back, but when I was asked by the people I worked with, I told them the tree would not thrive unless in micro-climates that suit it.

However Mama Mbembe decided to recommend the project and went all out to provide seedlings and talk farmers into planting large areas [for them]. The results were patchy to say the least, and in the end farmers removed the surviving trees. It was a pity that they were removed because even if poorly growing, the tree is remarkably useful.

Water purification: After the oil has been removed from the seed [crushed] the remaining seed cake can be used to clean water. That is it causes clays silt and fecal content to lose its suspension in the water and become sediment. It does not make the water pure just clean - therefore it still requires boiling but is much more pleasant to drink.
Boil the water!