Acacia Nilotica

History And Use

The leaves and barks are used for toothache, the fruits are very rich in tannins and are used to tan the skin or as an antidiarrheal.

Description Of The Plant

It is a tree 10 to 12 meters high. The top gives a rounded appearance. The leaves are composed and appear in the rainy season. The flowers form small yellow balls at the end of the axis.  The fruits are gray and whitish pods containing the seeds.

Curative Action

Dysentery is the major indication of this species, and it is especially the fruits with a richness of gallic tannin exceeding 200% which are used in powder form. The fruits of Acacia nilotica and the tannins they contain have the property of destroying the algae that invade the backwaters.

Similarly, a decoction of the sprayed fruit thrown into the water kills the crustacea vectors of a terrible African disease, bilharziasis. The Gallic acid phenolic hydroxyl gallitanins seem to be responsible for these actions. The gallic tannins seem more harmless to fish than the saponosides of other plants used for the same purpose.

Uses

Diarrhea take a pinch of the fruit powder without the seeds, 5 grams in case of diarrhea. Rest every hour according to the evolution of pain.

Bilharzia

Make a concentrated solution of tannins in boiling water from the fruits, add this water to the marigots containing the crustaceans that carry the disease.