West African Laburnum (Cassia sieberiana)

Family: Fabaceae | Edibility: Edible (1/5)

West African Laburnum, Cassia sieberiana, is a tropical, deciduous small tree of about 10-20 m tall with dark grey and wrinkled bark. It is characterized by its bright yellow and attractive flowers that form into groups and are upright or hanging. The plant has several medicinal functions. It is used as a purgative and diuretic. When powdered, different plant parts is used as relief from toothache; and for skin diseases when mixed with butter.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Leaves, Shoots

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Spring, Winter

Flavor & Culinary Uses

sweet extract from the stems is eaten. — Edible portion: Leaves, Stems.; The sweet extract from the stems is eaten.; Chew sticks can also be made from the root-wood part of the plant.

Habitat & North American Range

Wooded grassland and savannah; secondary bush; lateritic soils; roadsides; gravel and concrete colluvium with clay; gallery forest; wet sites in short and long grass savannah; thickets; secondary (closed) forest; coastal scrub; sandstone plateaux. (Zone 10)