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Pentaclethra macrophylla
Also called African Oil Bean, Congo Acacia, Atta Bean, Nganzi, Oilbeantree, Owala Oil Tree
A large West and Central African forest tree grown for its fermented seeds, which make the soup condiment ugba. It is rarely grown as an ornamental and is most suited to large warm, humid gardens or plantations.
Pentaclethra macrophylla, also known as the African oil bean, tree is a large size tree with long bipinnate compound leaves that is endemic to West and Central Africa. It is within the family Fabaceae. Seeds of the species are prepared and fermented to make Ugba, a soup condiment in Nigeria.
Occurs in the forest zones of Senegal eastwards to Sudan and southwards to Angola.
After processing and fermentation, the processed seeds containing carbohydrates that is rich in fructose and glucose, fatty oil that is rich in oleic and linoleic acid, protein and amino acids are used as condiments in soups and salad or eaten. Oil extracts from the seeds are used to make 'owala' butter, an ingredient used in making candles, lubricants and ointments in Central Africa.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pentaclethra macrophylla 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.
