Balanites aegyptiaca Delile
Eng.: Soap berry tree, simple thorned torch tree, Jericho balsam, lalob tree, heglig, desert date. Spa.: Datilero del desierto. Fre.: Dattier du désert, myrobalou d’Egypte, dattier sauvage. Ara.: Haledj, hadjilidj, halij, heglig, zaggum, zaqqum, zachun, zaccone, taeshita, tishtaya (the last 2 in Niger). Tam./Tamahaq: Taichot, tchaïchot, taycht, taborak, aboragh, teborak, teborrak, tiyisset, addaua, adduaebora, alo, bito; the fruit: ibororhen.
Deciduous tree or shrub, with a rounded crown and up to 10 m in height, strongly spiny and highly branched, especially when shrubby. Trunk well defined, straight or slightly tortuous, with greyish-brown bark, fissured longitudinally. Branches numerous and robust, with strong straight spines 2-7 cm. Young branchlets pubescent, green, also with spines. Leaves coriaceous, alternate, compound, with two leaflets (1)2-5 × (0.7)2-3.5 cm, oval-lanceolate, broadly lanceolate or ellipsoid, acute or obtuse, subsessile, somewhat pubescent and dark green on both sides. Inflorescence an irregular cyme, terminal, with 5-12 flowers, arranged on pubescent peduncles variable in length. Floral buds ovoid and tomentose. Individual flowers hermaphrodite, pentamerous and actinomorphic, 8-14 mm in diameter and generally greenish yellow. Pedicels greyish, pubescent, up to 8(10-15) mm long. Calyx with 5 sepals, oval-oblong, pubescent, greenish-whitish. Corolla with 5 petals nearly twice as long as the sepals, linear-lanceolate, obtuse, glabrous, greenish-whitish. Stamens 10-15, inserted on a fleshy dark green central disk, at the centre of which the pistil can be found. Fruit a type of drupe, 1-2.5 cm long, slightly fleshy, ovoid-oblong, silky-pubescent surface and greenish-whitish; when mature it turns brown or light brown, fragile skin and sticky brown or green pulp; it contains a single seed. The fleshy pulp of the ripe or unripe fruit is edible and is eaten fresh or dried; various types of food and beverages are also made from it.
Flowering:
Floral phenology varies. There is no clear defined flowering period throughout its range, although it is usually concentrated in the dry season.
Fruiting:
(March) July to October (January).
Habitat:
Due to its wide geographic range, it has a variable ecological behaviour. However, it reaches its peak in alluvial depressions, on deep sandy-loam soils and an uninterrupted access to water like in valleys, riverbanks or lower parts of rocky slopes, but almost always in desert environments. It does not tolerate shade very well so it prefers open forests or savannahs for natural regeneration. Altitudinal range from almost sea level to 2,000 m and in areas of an annual rainfall of 200-1,200 mm.
Distribution:
Africa and western part of Asia, reaching the Mediterranean through Egypt, Israel and Palestine. In North Africa it is common in the central Sahara, in mountain ranges below 1,800 m, and in the southern Sahara. Towards the N it reaches Morocco to the plains between the western Anti-Atlas, the Jebel Bani and the Draa River (Assa, Fam El Hisn —Fum el Hassan—, Akka, etc.), in Algeria up to Muydir and Tabelbala, in Egypt almost up to the Mediterranean.
Conservation status:
A widely distributed tree, relatively common (although getting rarer). So far it is not considered threatened globally but it is locally disappearing from different areas and overgrazing prevents its regeneration. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Mali it is included in its List of species that need authorization for commercial use (Decree 07-155/P-RM of 2007).