Synonym: Hexalobus senegalensis.
Region: Africa, Senegal to Sudan, south to S. Africa.
Habitat: savannah woodland; open woodlands in dry regions as well as reasonably well-watered ones; elevations from 900 - 1,500 metres; various soil types, sandy soils, sandy loams, sandy clay loams.
Use: edible fruits, raw or cooked, pleasantly acid taste, fresh, in jam; medicinally; fibre; useful timber; seeds eaten as a spicy condiment; bark fibre for cordage; wood for poles in hut-building, chair-legs, tool-handles, bows, spoons, gunstocks, carvings; wood for fuel.
BotanySemi-deciduous shrub or small tree; rounded quite dense crown; from 2 to 10 metres tall.
Stem: horizontal branches; wood reddish wood, strong, tough, very durable.
Fruit: small, oblong, oval; scarlet when ripe; sometimes patterned with green-veins; has juicy white pulp; in clusters; each about 5 cm long, are borne in a single flower