Agroforestree Database

Local names:
 Bemba (kapempe), French (digbe,coeurs-volants), Luganda (nabaluka)

Hymenocardia acida is a small savannah tree or shrub about 9 m high. Branchlets become rusty brown as the bark peels. The bole is short, often flattened and usually crooked. The branches form a fairly heavy, somewhat rounded crown. Bark smooth or flaky, pinkish-brown when fresh but becoming pale brown or grey later.

Leaves thin, leathery, elliptic-oblong up to 8.75 cm long and 3.75 cm broad, apex obtuse to rounded, base obtuse; petiole slender, up to 1.8 cm long. Leaves usually pubescent when young with a dense mat of fine hairs and with golden glands beneath. 

Flowers unisexual, male flowers reddish-yellow occurring in clusters of spikes up to 6.5 cm long; calyx cupular, red, anthers creamy white. Female flowers green, placed on axils of leafy lateral branches and bearing a prominent crimson stigma spreading about 1.25 cm.

Fruit compressed, obcordate and reddish-brown, 2.5 cm long and 2.5-3.75 cm broad. Developing in pairs along one edge, each with a thin pale brown nearly square wing.

Seed flattened, glossy brown.

The generic name Hymenocardia is derived from the Greek words ‘hymen’ - membrane and ‘kardia ’- heart, in reference to the heart-shaped fruits which have a transparent covering membrane (hymen). The specific epithet acida describes the sour taste of its fruits. Some authors consider the genus under the family Hymenocardiaceae.

Ecology

H. acida is commonly found in savannah, scrub and open woodland in association with Parinari curatellifolia, Isoberlinia, Stereospermum kunthianum, Parkia clappertoniana and Protea madiensis. Dry seasons last long in its natural range.

Native range
Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

H. acida is commonly found in savannah, scrub and open woodland in association with Parinari curatellifolia, Isoberlinia, Stereospermum kunthianum, Parkia clappertoniana and Protea madiensis. Dry seasons last long in its natural range.

Direct seeding is the most reliable propagation method.

Erosion control: H. acida protects surrounding soils.

  The sour fruits are relished by children.

Wildlife browse on the young shoots and leaves.

Apiculture:  The flowers provide nectar and pollen to bees.

The tree is used as firewood and for charcoal making.

Timber:  The sapwood is ivory-white and the heartwood pink to light-brown darkening to orange on exposure. The wood is hard, close grained, very durable and termite resistant. Used for hut poles, stockades, and for making pestles and mallets.

Shade or shelter:  H. acida is a good shade tree.

Tannin or dyestuff:  The bark is used for tanning in central Africa.

Medicine:  Tannins from H. acida stem bark are used to treat diarrhoea and dysentery and show good activity. In Zambia the bark is used in concoctions as remedy for an unspecified disease condition, in east Africa the plant is used in treating wounds. Root bark extracts exhibited cytotoxicity against the 60 human cell lines of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). H. acida extracts demonstrated a marked antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Soil improver:  The leaf litter ameliorates soil physical and chemical properties.

Intercropping: H. acida casts a moderately light shade which is unlikely to fully deprive other crops of essential light.

Other services:  H. acida is used magically for psychosocial ailments.