Region: Africa, Arabian Peninsula, eastern Mediterranean to India and Sri Lanka.
Habitat: dry, arid and semi-arid, tropical grasslands; open deciduous woodlands and riverbanks; on sandy or rocky soils or on termitaries; elevations up to 100 to 1500 metres; prefers moist river beds; on termite mounds, in littoral scrub; refers moist, well-drained soil, full sun; in stony and saline soils.
Use: medicine; materials; ornamental, with sweetly-scented flowers; bark for fibre, making ropes, caulking boats; bark for covering huts; fruit, raw or cooked, as a snack, especially by children, in porridges; clear gum from the bark as food; wood for roofing, construction of local houses, tool handles, walking sticks, arrow shafts, clubs, making pots, fuel, as a substitute for sandalwood.
BotanyShrub; compact, densely growing; up to 4 to 12 metres; fast-growing.
Stem: heart-wood is brown, slightly scented, hard.
Flowers: sweetly-scented.
Fruit: orange-red, ovoid; up to 2 cm long; with 1 to 4 tiny seeds; gelatinous, very sticky pulp, with sweet flavour but a slightly astringent, drying, after-taste