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Detarium microcarpum
Also called Tallow Tree
Detarium microcarpum is a small African legume tree from dry savanna in West and Central Africa, grown for its edible fruit and hardwood. Drought tolerance and a seasonally dry climate are the key to growing it.
Detarium microcarpum (Bambara: Ntamajalan), commonly known as sweet detar, sweet dattock or tallow tree, is an underutilized species of tree legume that grows naturally in the drier regions of West and Central Africa. It has a wide range of uses due to its medicinal properties, edible fruit (eaten raw, cooked, or made into flour with many uses of its own) and hardwood, which is used as fuel. This makes it valuable and appreciated by local communities, but further research and effort are needed for its domestication.
Detarium microcarpum occurs naturally in the drier regions of West and Central Africa (Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Togo). Unlike the other species of its family, D. microcarpum grows in dry savanna, while Detarium senegalense grows in the dry forest, and Detarium macrocarpum grows in humid forest. Many different vernacular names exist for this species, including the English, sweet dattock or tallow tree, and the French, dankh or petit détar, as well as Abu-laili (in Sudan) or Tamba Dala (in Mali).
Propagation of this species may be vegetative or from seed. It is capable of vegetative propagation by coppice regeneration and suckering from stumps or roots, as well as propagation by rooted cuttings and grafting using scions from mature trees. This species is mainly found on shallow, stony and lateritic soils, often on hills, as well as in regions with an annual rainfall of 600–1000 mm.
Statistics on its production and trade are scarce, despite the fact that it is sold in markets across West Africa; in 2005 in Mali, 1 kg of fruits sold for US$0.04 during harvest time and for US$0.70 at the market in Dakar, Senegal; seeds were sold in 2004 in francophone West Africa for US$11.03/kg. Different strategies could be adopted by poor farmers to add value to the fruit in the market. The fruit pulp is suitable for concentrated juice and jam processing adding more value than the fruit alone. Roasting or soaking seeds has nutritional benefits as it increases the content and properties of certain nutrients.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Detarium microcarpum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
