The Role of Indigenous Fruit Trees in Sustainable Dryland Agriculture in Eastern Africa - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 209

Table 11.2. Description of priority indigenous fruit tree species of Eastern Africa.

Species and family Description

Adansonia digitata Deciduous tree up to 25 m height; swollen trunk more than 10 m

Bombacaceae diameter; greyish brown and smooth bark; leaves digitate

compound with 5-7 finger-like leaflets, flowers solitary, scented
and white; fruits woody, yellowish brown and hairy, seeds
kidney-shaped, hard and black.

Balanites aegyptiaca Evergreen tree up to 10 m height; stem diameter up to 30 cm with

Balanitaceae recurved spiny branches; leaves fleshy, succulent, distinctive

grey-green pairs and ovate; flowers fragrant, yellow-green clusters,
fruits oblong with both ends round, yellow when ripe with a hard
pointed seed inside.

Cordeauxia edulis Evergreen nitrogen-fixing shrub or small tree up to 4 m height; both

Leguminoceae adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces covered by thick cuticle; flowers

yellow; nuts brown.

Sclerocarya birrea Deciduous tree up to 18 m height; bark is grey and thick with

Anacardiaceae irregular cracks and raised scales; leaves compound pinnate,

crowded at tips of branches; flowers dioecious, male flowers pale
green, female green-pink; fruits rounded and fleshy, skin cream
spotted, 2-3 large oily seeds inside.

Tamarindus indica Evergreen tree up to 30 m height, extensive dense crown; short

Leguminosae bole up to 1 m diameter; bark grey; leaves compound pinnate,

dull-green, oblong; flowers small, in few-flowered heads, petals
gold with red veins; fruits pale brown, sausage-like, hairy pods,
sticky pulp, and seeds inside.

Vitellaria paradoxa Deciduous tree up to 20 m height; leaves born at the end of

Sapotaceae branches, 20-30 leaves the terminal 5 cm of the shoot; bark white

or dark, rough and deeply fissured into square scales; flowers
hermaphrodite, dense fascicle containing 30-40 flowers, white, fruit
oblong with 2-3 oily seeds inside.

Vitex payos Deciduous tree up to 8 m height; bark grey brown, deeply

Verbenaceae fissured leaves with 5 leaflets, occasionally 3 leaflets roughly hairy

above, softly hairy beneath, flowers white, blue or mauve; fruits
shortly cylindrical, black when ripe, seeds hard, grooved.

Ziziphus mauritiana Deciduous tree up to 12 m height; diameter up to 30 cm; branches

Rhamnaceae bearing paired, brown spines, one straight and the other slightly

hooked; wide spreading crown; leaves alternate, shiny above, white
below; flowers small and yellowish; fruits mostly rounded, reddish or
dark brown.

Sources: FAO, 1983; von Maydell, 1989; Hall and Walker, 1992; Bekele-Tesemma, 1993;
Beentje, 1994; Wickens, 1995; ICUC, 1999; Pareek, 2001; Hall et al ., 1996, 2002; Sidibe and
Williams, 2002; Teklehaimanot, 2003; Mbabu and Wekesa, 2004.