Aizen, Boscia
Boscia senegalensis

Family: Capparaceae

What it is like

Aizen, Boscia senegalensis, is an evergreen, perennial woody shrub or tree native to Sahal region in Africa. Plant size varies depending on habitat. However, in favourable environment, it can grow tree-like with a rounded spreading crown. It is an important local food plant in Africa and widely exploited for its fruits and seeds. It can survive arid environmental conditions and is known to repel pests. Edible parts are the yellow small berries, seed (dried or roasted), young roots and scraped of bark, and leaves. Leaves have various medicinal uses such as treatment against haemorrhoids, intestinal problems, headaches, bilharziosis, colic, and ulcers. The roots are vermifuge, the fruits are used against syphilis, and the plant is used for jaundice and swellings.

Boscia senegalensis is an evergreen Shrub growing to 8 m (26ft) by 10 m (32ft) at a medium rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10. It is noted for attracting wildlife. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and can grow in heavy clay and nutritionally poor soils. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid and very alkaline soils. It can grow in full shade (deep woodland) semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Height (m): 8

Where it is found

It occupies most types of arid-land environment including stony slopes, sand dunes, and cracking-clay plains. It often occurs in desiccated, barren, hard, and even fire-scorched sites. It often sprouts directly out of termite mounds.

Africa - Senegal and Mauritania east through the Sahel to Egypt, Somalia and Kenya.

Conservation Status: This taxon has not yet been assessed.

Countries/locations it is found in

Found In: Africa, Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Chad, C™te d'Ivoire, East Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, GuinŽe, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, North Africa, Sahel, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, West Africa, Zambia. Other Names: Boscia, Dila, Aisen, Akondok, Hanza, Korsan, Mekhet, Mukhait, Mukheit, Tabila, Tubaqe.

How it is used

Food

Rating: 4

Edible portion: Seeds, Leaves, Fruit (Caution), Vegetable. The yellow cherry-sized berries (up to 15mm in diameter) are borne in clusters. When newly ripe, their rather sweet pulp is translucent and jelly-like. However, in the desiccating air it quickly dries out, turning into something not unlike caramel before ending up a brittle, brown, and quite sugary solid. Despite its good taste, this toffee-like treat is difficult to separate from the seed. Besides being eaten fresh, the ripe fruits are often boiled. The juice is sometimes extracted, filtered, and boiled down into a semisolid, which is commonly mixed with millet and curdled milk to make cakes. The dried seeds are used as a substitute for millet or lentils. They require lengthy preparation and must be eaten cooked. The traditional procedure involves soaking the seeds for a week (changing the water daily) to remove bitter components. Less commonly, the seeds are boiled for 3 hours (and rinsed at least twice with new water). In either case, they are subsequently dried and ground into flour and used in making porridge. The roasted seed is used as a substitute for coffee. Young roots, scraped of bark, may be ground, sieved, mixed with cereals, and boiled into a thin gruel or thick porridge. They are very sweet. The roots can be sun-dried and stored for later use. The root tissues are also boiled slowly for several hours to make a sweet syrup. The leaves, although just about the most leathery and least appealing foodstuffs on earth, are also consumed. Most are dropped into soups or boiled and mixed into cereal products such as gruel or couscous. The plant is particularly useful this way because it is an evergreen and provides food and nutrients when other plants are bare. An important food in the Sudan and Mali. The seeds are used as a famine food in emergencies. Chemical composition (after Berry-Koch) (g/mg/mcg per 100g) (dried): Protein = 21g. Fat = 1.6g. Calcium = 123 mg. Fe = 6.8 mg. Beta carotene = 165 mcg Vitamin B1 = .02 mg. Vitamin B2 = .03 mg. Niacin = 8.8 mg. Vitamin C = 5 mg. Kcal = 341; (cooked): Protein = 5.4g. Fat = 0.2g. Calcium = 33 mg. Fe = 2.8 mg. Beta carotene = 25 mcg. Vitamin B1 = .01 mg. Kcal = 92. (after Abdelmuti) (un- debittered): Protein (crude) = 29.3%. Oil = 0.7%. Ash = 3.5%. Fibre (crude) = 2.7%. Carbohydrate (soluble) (starch) = 39.5%; (sugars): Sucrose = 4.3%. D-glucose = 0.2%. D-fructose = 0.7%. Amino acids (g (16g N)-1): Aspartic acid = 7.7g. Threonine = 1.7g. Serine = 2.3g. Glutamic acid = 9.0g. Proline = 6.5g. Glycine = 3.5g. Alanine = 3.2g. Valine = 4.5g. Cysteine (performic acid oxidation) = 1.3g. Methionine (performic acid oxidation) = 1.8g. Isoleucine = 2.9g. Leucine = 7.0g. Tyrosine = 2.3g. Histidine = 1.3g. Lysine = 1.5g. Arginine = 15.1g. Minerals: Sulphur = 2.20 mg/kg-1 (dry). Potassium = 0.15%-1 (dry). Magnesium = 0.10% (dry). Calcium = 0.14% (dry). Na = 0.01% (dry). K = 1.03 mg/kg-% (dry). Zinc = 42 mg/kg-1 (dry). Iron = 10.5 mg/kg-1 (dry). Manganese = 17 mg/kg-1 (dry). Copper = 8 mg/kg-1 (dry).

Root: includes bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes etc.

Seed: includes nuts, cereals, peas and beans.

Coffee: the various substitutes that can be used instead of coffee.

Drink: not including plant saps, tea or coffee substitutes.

Sweetener: includes sugar substitutes.

Medicine

Rating: 2

The leaves are used as a treatment against bilharziosis, guinea-worm sores, haemorrhoids, intestinal complaints, headaches, colic and ulcers. An emulsion of the leaves is used as an eyewash. The roots are vermifuge. The fruits are used in the treatment of syphilis. The plant (part not specified) is used in the treatment of jaundice and swellings.

Ophthalmic: Treats eye complaints.

Stomachic: Aids and improves the action of the stomach.

Vermifuge: Expels and kills internal parasites.

Vitamin C: Plants good for their vitamin C content

Other

Rating: 3

Other uses rating: Medium (3/5). Agroforestry Uses: Aizen is a promising plant for establishing famine-food reserves, for protecting erodible soil, for stabilizing dunes, for windbreaks, and for other utilitarian purposes in the harshest of harsh sites. Its foliage is unpalatable to livestock and other herbivores, who only eat it in times of direst need. Thus the trees are able to survive without the need for protection. Other Uses The leaves are added to granaries in order to protect stored foods against pests. This long-standing traditional process seems to work. Leafless twigs contain glucosinalates, which can hydrolyze to mustard oils, which are highly toxic and irritant to mucous membranes. The plant contains natural coagulants. The bark, twigs, leaves, and roots are used to scavenge suspended and colloidal compounds from unclean water (such as that from ponds churned up by storms or from baobab-tree cisterns contaminated with soil). Normally the plant parts are sliced up and placed on the water surface. Compounds leach out and catch the clay and other particulates like magnets, causing them to clump and settle to the bottom. It is reported that truly turbid water can be safely drunk after just a day of such treatment. For even faster results, aizen branches are swirled in the water. Aizen wood is soft and easy to work when boiled. It is cut for poles, notably those holding up houses. Although smoky and stinky, the wood is used as cooking fuel when nothing better is at hand (which in the harshest areas is all too often). This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and birds. Suitable for growing in containers.

Filter: Used to strain out particles from liquids.

Fuel: Usually wood, plant materials that have been mentioned as being a good fuel.

Shelterbelt: Wind resistant plants than can be grown to provide shelter in the garden etc.

Soil stabilization: Plants that can be grown in places such as sand dunes in order to prevent erosion by wind, water or other agents.

Wood: A list of the trees and shrubs that are noted for having useful wood.

Attracts Wildlife: Plants noted for attracting wildlife

Food Forest: Plants for Edible Forest Gardens and Food Forests.

How it is grown

A plant of the arid tropics and subtropics where it can be found at elevations up to 1,450 metres. This plant's endurance is remarkable. It tolerates shade temperatures as high as 45°c, a level not rare in its habitat; it also survives in areas receiving as little as 100mm annual rainfall, although it grows best where there is at least 250 - 500mm. Requires a sunny position. Prefers sandy-clayey soils, fixed dunes, abandoned croplands and termite mounds. Succeeds even in very dry, poor, sandy, rocky, worn-out laterite, or clay soils. Contributing to the plant's built-in drought tolerance is its remarkable leaf structure: the cuticle is up to 20 microns thick, the stomata are sunk in deep cavities, and each stomata has thickened walls and a protective armouring of papillae. The flowers provide bee forage, often in areas where little else capable of sustaining honeybees is available. Although the fruit is a seasonal food, its season differs from the norm and comes at the beginning of the rains, a time when farm crops are just being planted and anything to eat is usually difficult to find. Suitable for growing in containers. Suitable for xeriscaping.

Propagating it: Seed - Although the seeds germinate readily, the seedlings have so far proved difficult to transplant from nursery to field. Thus, it is recommended that direct-seeding trials be established to find out how to establish healthy populations in situ There are claims that root and shoot cuttings have been used to propagate aizen. This could be a vital lead because with them superior plants can be replicated. The possibility of grafting should be explored, because it would allow elite aizen types to be grafted onto the wild trees now so prevalent and widespread. That in turn would ensure rapid quality-fruit production. Also, it would provide lasting benefits because of the rootstock?s obvious adaptability to the site.

Best place to grow:

Habit: Shrub

Hardiness: 10-12

Growth: Medium

Soil: Light (sandy), medium, heavy (clay)

Shade: Full shade, semi-shade, no shade

Moisture: Moist

Things to keep in mind

Poison: The leaves are used to protect stored food against parasites in granary. Leafless twigs contain glucosinalates, which can hydrolyze to mustard oils, which are highly toxic and irritant to mucous membranes.

Its other names

Local names

Aizen, Boscia senegalensis.

Synonyms

Boscia octandra Hochst. ex Radlk.