Latin Name
Balanites aegyptiaca
Aduwa, sometimes called Desert Date in English, is a thorny tree that is highly drought resistant. It grows deep into the Sahara desert, and can often be the last remaining tree species in areas threatened by sand encroachment. Despite the unfriendly impression it gives through it''s long and strong thorns, it is a very important food plant. The fruits produced are bitter-sweet, much like desert life. The seeds inside the fruits contain a quality oil, rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Fruits and oil of aduwa were used already in pharaonic Egypt. Long forgotten and neglected, they are now being rediscovered as one of the real treasures of the African drylands.
