Category: Samburu Milk Project

Pronunciation: XXX
Botanical name: XXX

Description: Lussen hill. Like laishimi, has thorns.

Use: Preparing calabash.

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This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.

Pronunciation:
Botanical name: Justicia exigua [per Alois Plant List] [Is this correct? Leave your remarks in Comments below. Alternatively, see https://www.botswanaflora.com/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=154440]

Description: 

Uses: Has edible fruits. [Is this preparation of the calabash for milk? Leave your remarks in Comments].

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This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.

Pronunciation:
Botanical name: Commiphora africana  [Corroborated by Alois Plant List.]

Description: “A spiny deciduous shrub or tree to 10 m. … Widely distributed in the drier parts of Africa from Senegal east to Somalia and south to South Africa. Mainly in the low, drier parts of Kenya where it is common in Acacia-Commiphora bushland. … Leaves contain bitter tannin and so they are not browsed by cattle, but important fodder for camels and goats. It comes into leaf just before the rains. Good for live fences and as beehive posts. The roots of young plants are chewed for their sweet taste and to quench thirst (Kamba, Maasai, Pokot). Resin eaten (Maasai, Pokot, Turkana). The bark is used to make a red tea (Pokot, Turkana). Stems used as toothbrushes (Rendille, Kamba).”

Uses: Wood for making calabash – Lowland. Heavier than Loituktuk [No entry exists for this botanical. Does one need to be created?]. (Stephen’s mothers) [?]

“Firewood, carving, furniture (stools, headrests), utensils (wooden spoons, milk containers), water troughs, edible fruit, edible juicy young root, edible resin (chewed), drink (tea from bark), medicine (roots, bark, resin, fruits, twigs), fodder (young shoots for camels and goats), ornamental, resin (gum for arrows), live fence, toothbrushes, insecticide, beads.”

Source: Useful Trees and Shrubs for Kenya, Ed. Patrick Maundu and Bo Tengnas; Nairobi, Kenya: World Agroforestry Centre, 2005; https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/usefultrees/pdflib/Commiphora_africana_KEN.pdf (accessed July 2024).

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This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.

Pronunciation:
Botanical name: Acacia mellifera

Description: “Usually a low shrub, sometimes a tree up to 9m. … A widely distributed acacia found from western Asia, the Middle East, and Egypt south to South Africa and Angola. Widespread in all arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya. … The flowers produce excellent-quality honey (‘mellifera’ = producing honey). Heavily browsed by game and goats in areas where few trees grow. Can make impenetrable thickets. The black Maasai clubs and sticks are made of such wood.”

Uses: Used by Samburu people to clean the lmala container. “Firewood, charcoal, timber, pestles. Clubs, sticks, carvings, edible gum (sparingly), medicine (bark), fodder (pods, twigs, leaves, flowers browsed by camels and goats), bee forage, nitrogen-fixing, soil conservation, live fence, dead fence, veterinary medicine.”

It has red pith which is edible. A little bitter but not very much – at Archer’s / someone from Maralal [?]

Source: Useful Trees and Shrubs for Kenya, Ed. Patrick Maundu and Bo Tengnas; Nairobi, Kenya: World Agroforestry Centre, 2005; https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/downloads/Publications/PDFS/B13601.pdf (accessed July 2024).

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This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel. 

Pronunciation: XXX.
Botanical name: Olea africana/europaea [Should this be listed as “Olea europaea ssp. africana”? Leave your remarks in Comments below.]

Description: “a shrub or a small to medium sized tree 5-10 m in height, occasionally reaching 18 m. … O. europea ssp. africana is widely distributed in its native range of southern Africa occurring in a variety of habitats, usually near water, on stream banks, in riverine fringes, but also in open woodland, among rocks and in mountain ravines. It is resistant to both frost and drought. … The main olive products are olive oil and edible olives. The fleshy, oil-bearing mesocarp used in commercial olive growing is absent in the much smaller fruits of O. europaea ssp. africana. The plants are much browsed on by livestock.”

Uses: “Wood is hard and heavy, weighing approximately 1 140 kg/cubic m. Sapwood is light brown while the heartwood is red-brown to yellow, with dark figuring. The wood is fine-textured and finishes well, and is often used to make ornaments such as wall clocks and vases. Jewellery items such as beads, brooches and bangles are also made from wild olive wood. Although the tree does not produce sawable logs or branches, there are still several furniture-makers that, with great effort produce furniture from the limited quantities of timber.”

Source: Orwa C, Mutua A, Kindt R, Jamnadass R, Simons A. 2009. Agroforestree Database: a tree reference and selection guide version 4.0. World Agroforestry Centre, Kenya. https://www.worldagroforestry.org/output/agroforestree-database (accessed July 2024).

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This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel. 

Pronunciation: XXX. 
Botanical name: 

Description: 

Uses: Rarely used because of scarcity.

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This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.