A shrub to 3 m high, of the savanna forest, often on river-banks, throughout the Region from Senegal to N and S Nigeria, and widespread elsewhere in tropical Africa. The two varieties recognised in West Africa, var. reticulatus and var. glober Müll.-Arg., are treated together here.The wood is said to be very hard and is used by some peoples in E Africa for the threshing flail (6). Stems are used in N Nigeria as roof-binders in conical huts (6). Twigs are used as chew-sticks in Ghana (12, 13), as chew-sticks and toothbrushes in Kenya (16) and Tanganyika (Dragendorff fide 25), and as toothbrushes in southern Africa (24). The wood is suitable for tinder and in Tanganyika is fixed into a fire-drill (8). Sap from the stem is blown into the eyes to cure soreness in Ghana (13).The foliage and young shoots are browsed by all stock in Kenya (18) and Tanganyika (24). In Ghana a soup made of leaves boiled with palm fruits is given to Asante women after child-birth (6). The leaves and bark are reputed to be diuretic and cooling in Sudan (3) and southern Africa (24). The powdered leaf is used in South Africa for topical application to sores, including venereal sores, burns, suppurations and skin-chafes (24). In Tanganyika mashed leaves are rubbed over the body of a malaria patient (11). The powdered leaves are compounded with cubebs and camphor in India into tablets for sucking for bleeding gums (25).The fruits are edible. They are traded in Sierra Leone Freetown market as sour grapes (17) and may be occasionally eaten in E Africa (Kenya, 2), but perhaps serve only as an emergency food (6). The fruit and root have been recorded as used criminally in Tanganyika (24).The plant can become an invasive weed of cultivated land. It is reported in Gabon to be toxic to poultry (22, 23), but the part(s) of the plant is not indicated. Birds in Tanganyika are reported to eat the ripe fruit (4).A red or black dye is obtained from the bark and roots which is used in Sudan (3) and E Africa for dyeing fishing lines (1, 5, 7, 9, 10, 24, 26).The root is purgative (14) and has a variety of uses in Tanganyika. A decoction enters into hookworm medicine (15), and water in which the root has been boiled is taken as a male aphrodisiac (21), to increase fertility (2), to treat headache (19), for dysmenorrhoea (11), for hard abscesses (11) and with the leaf-sap as an antispastic (11). In Zanzibar the plant is considered a remedy for anaemia and intestinal haemorrhage (24).