Desert date
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Desert date ( Balanites aegyptiaca ), near Fadar-Fadar, Oudalan Province , Burkina Faso |
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| Balanites aegyptiaca | ||||||||||||
| ( L. ) Delile |
The desert date ( Balanites aegyptiaca ), also called Zachun tree, is a species of plant within the family of the zygophyllaceae . It is used in traditional medicine to treat various diseases.
description
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Appearance and leaf
The desert date grows as a deciduous shrub or small tree with one or more spherical, dense treetops , the stature heights of up to 8, rarely up to 10 meters and a trunk diameter of 30 centimeters. The trunk is short and often branched near the base or the specimen is multi-stemmed. The bark is dark brown to gray and deeply furrowed lengthways. The spread or overhanging branches usually have thorns. The thorns, which are 1 to 4 millimeters above the leaf axils, are strong, yellow or green, usually 2 to 8 (0.4 to 11.5) centimeters long; they are seldom simple and bare, usually they have a few early sloping, scale-shaped, about 0.75 millimeter long leaf rudiments (are thus transformed short shoots). The bark of the twigs is initially grayish-green and has tiny, fine to tomentose hairs, later turns light brown and bare.
Depending on the location, there are often only a few leaves, alternating and spiraling on the branches. The rutty petiole is 2 to rarely 3.5 centimeters long or hardly recognizable with a short rhachis . The pinnate leaf blade consists of only two leaflets . The petioles of the pinnate leaves are usually 1 to 5 (0 to 8) millimeters long. The leathery, light green or dark green leaflets have very different sizes and shapes; they can be asymmetrical and depending on the location with a length of 1 to 6.8 centimeters and a width of 0.3 to 5 centimeters narrow-elliptical, broad-ovoid or obovate with a pointed to blunt base and rounded upper end and smooth edge be. The leaf surfaces are initially hairy to tomentose and then bald.
Flower and fruit
Usually 2 to 15 (1 to 20 or more) flowers are more or less close together in clusters on thorny nodes or thornless short shoots above the leaf axils. The densely downy hairy flower stalks are usually 4 to 11, rarely up to 20 millimeters long. The flower buds are egg-shaped and tomentose.
The relatively small, yellowish-green, fragrant, inconspicuous, hermaphrodite flowers have a diameter of 8 to 14 millimeters and are radially symmetrical and five-fold. The five yellowish or blue-green petals are narrow obovate-elliptical with a length of 4.5 to 6.5 millimeters. There are ten stamens . The ovary is hairy finely to tomentose. The stylus is 1 to 2 millimeters long.
After fertilization, the ovary elongates very clearly into the young fruit. The stone fruit is usually 2.5 to 4 (2.3 to 4.5, rarely up to 7) centimeters in length and usually 1.7 to 2.2 (1.3 to 2.5, rarely) in diameter up to 4) centimeters relatively long and narrow, ovate to ellipsoidal and rounded or truncated at both ends. Young fruits are green and tomentose and usually turn yellow to more or less brown and bare when ripe. When ripe, the fruit skin is brittle. The edible, brown or brown-green pulp is bitter-sweet. The stone core that contains the seed is 1.5 to 3 centimeters long, light brown, fibrous and extremely hard; it makes up to 50 or 60% of the fruit. 500 to 1500 dry, clean seeds weigh about 1 kg.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 18.
Ecology and culture
A vegetative reproduction takes place via seeds or "root shoots". The pollination is done by insects. The seeds are spread by birds and other animals. The flowering and fruiting age is reached with five to seven years and the age of 15 to 25 years the maximum of the seed production.
Occurrence
The original distribution of the desert date is difficult to determine through cultivation and naturalization. It is believed to be native to all arid countries south of the Sahara as far as Malawi in the Great Rift Valley and the Arabian Peninsula . It was introduced in Latin America and India .
Balanites aegyptiaca is a typical floral element of the Sudano-Zambesian savannah belt , often associated with acacias . In Senegal , the desert date is one of the most common trees. There are also deposits in Israel and Jordan. In India it occurs particularly in Rajasthan , Gujarat , Madhya Pradesh and Dekkan .
Balanites aegyptiaca grows in the lowlands up to altitudes of 1000 meters, in areas with average rainfall amounts of 250 to 400 mm and temperatures of 20 to 30 ° C, i.e. semi-arid to arid areas. This species thrives on sandy soils as well as on vertisol .
use
The wood of the desert date is hard, durable and easy to work with. The small trunk and the tendency to warp make processing in sawmills difficult . Ripe and unripe fruits can be dried or eaten fresh. Fresh and dried leaves, fruits and sprouts are used as fodder. In Burkina Faso it has been shown experimentally that the desert date can account for up to 38% of the dry matter intake of goats in the dry season. The tree provides good firewood that burns with little smoke. The desert date contains saponins . Bark extracts are toxic to fish . In Sudan and Chad , the bark is a component of soap.
Traditionally, the desert date is used in the treatment of various diseases such as jaundice, intestinal worm infection, wounds, malaria, syphilis, epilepsy, dysentery, constipation, diarrhea, hemorrhoids, stomach pain, asthma and fever.
The pharmacologically interesting ingredients include diosgenin and yamogenin , which at least earlier were important starting materials for the production of synthetic corticosteroids .
Balanites oil can be obtained from the seeds . In some arid regions, the leaves are boiled. In Guéra , the central region of Chad , a sauce made from the leaves is eaten together with the usual millet porridge. The thorny branches can be used as a toothbrush.
Cattle, sheep or goats are treated with the ground bark in traditional medicine in some livestock-keeping peoples in the Sahel zone as far as Eritrea . At least among the Berti in Darfur , the desert date has cultic significance. It is considered a magic tree that must not be felled. Sick people hope for healing through ritual walking around; black magic is practiced in the same way .
Systematics
It was first published in 1753 under the name ( Basionym ) Ximenia aegyptiaca by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum, 2, p. 1194. In 1813, Alire Raffeneau Delile in Description de l'Égypte, ... Histoire Naturelle , Volume 2, 221, Plate 28, Figure 1 shows the genus Balanites with the only species Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile . According to the rules of ICN Art. 62.4, the male form Balanites aegyptiacus (L.) Delile would be correct, but Martin JS Sands proposed in 2013 that the name Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile should be preserved. Other synonyms for Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile are: Agialida senegalensis van Tiegh. , Agialida barteri van Tiegh. , Agialida tombuctensis van Tiegh. , Balanites ziziphoides Milbr. et Schlechter , Balanites latifolia (van Tiegh.) Chiov.
The genus Balanites (with seven to nine species) belongs to the subfamily Tribuloideae DHPorter in the family of the zygophyllaceae or, according to other authors, forms the monogeneric family Balanitaceae.
Common names
Trivial names in different languages are:
- English: Desert date, Soapberry tree, Thorn tree, Egyptian balsam
- French: Dattier du desert, Hagueleg, Balanite
- Spanish: corona di Jesus
- Arabic: Heglig
- Ayurvedic: Ingudi, Angaar Vrksha, Taapasadrum, Taapasa vrksha, Dirghkantaka
- Unani: Hingan, Hanguul
- Siddha: Nanjunda
literature
- ME Adams: A study of the ecology of Acacia mellifera, A. seyal and Balanites aegyptica in relation to land clearing. In: Journal of Applied Ecology. Volume 4, 1967, pp. 221-237.
- Martin JS Sands: The desert date and its relatives: a revision of the genus Balanites. In: Kew Bulletin. Volume 56, Issue 1, 2001, pp. 1–128. JSTOR 4119431
- Jules Janick, Robert E. Paull: The Encyclopedia of Fruit and Nuts . CABI Publishing Series, 2008, ISBN 978-0-85199-638-7 ( Balanites aegyptiaca on pages 922-924 in the Google book search).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Daya L. Chothani, HU Vaghasiya: A review on Balanites aegyptiaca Del (desert date): phytochemical constituents, traditional uses, and pharmacological activity. In: Pharmacognosy Reviews. Volume 5, Issue 9, 2011, pp. 55-62. doi : 10.4103 / 0973-7847.79100 PMC 3210005 (free full text)
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Martin JS Sands & M. Thulin: Flora Somalia. Volume 2, 1999, revised by M. Thulin 2008: data sheet at JSTOR Global Plants .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Orwa et al. 2009: Agroforestry Database 4.0: Balanites aegyptiaca - PDF at Agroforestry .
- ↑ a b c d e Lars Schmidt and Dorthe Jøker, 2000: DANIDA Seed Leaflet , number 21 - Danida Forest Seed Center. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 21 kB)
- ↑ Balanites aegyptiacus at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ Deborah A. Hines, Karlyn Eckman: Indigenous multipurpose trees of Tanzania: Uses and economic benefits for people. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1993, ISBN 0-9697075-0-9 : FAO data sheet .
- ^ John B. Hall: Balanites Aegyptica . In: Schütt, Weisgerber, Schuck, Lang, Stimm, Roloff (ed.): Trees of the tropics . Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-933203-79-3 , p. 111-126 .
- ↑ Sabine Krist: Lexicon of vegetable fats and oils. 2nd edition, Springer, 2013, ISBN 978-3-7091-1004-1 . Pp. 113-116.
- ↑ Balanites aegyptiacus at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed June 19, 2014.
- ↑ Martin JS Sands: Proposal to conserve Balanites, nom. cons. (Zygophyllaceae) as being of feminine gender. (2138) In: Taxon , Volume 62, Issue 2, April 20, 2013, pp. 410-411.
- ↑ Balanites aegyptiaca in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
