[Afzelia, African Mahogany, African Oak, Lucky Bean Tee (English);
Doussié, Lingu´(French) Lenke, Apa;
Afzelia africana]
This medium size bean tree (to 65 feet) is native to West and Central Africa. The seeds are reported to be toxic, but the arils (the orange coating at one end, is sweet and edible. Despite the toxic reports, shelled seeds are ground for use as a thickener in soups and the like in Nigeria. Perhaps cooking detoxifies them as is the case with many other beans. Young leaves are sometimes cooked as a vegetable, and flowers are used as a condiment in sauces. Photo by Marco Schmidt distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.
More on Beans, Peas and Lentils
Buying: The seeds are sold in North America for use as decoratives. Other uses are at your own risk.
bp_oforz 180612 - www.clovegarden.com