Category
Species
Sclerocarya caffra (Mfula)
Known locally as Mfula or Marula. It is known in English as Cider Tree.
From the Useful Tropical Plants Database
Sclerocarya birrea ssp. caffra is infamous for elephants getting intoxicated from eating fermented marula fruit. Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinoceros also browse on the leaves for regular fodder. The tree is a deciduous tree, up to 18 m tall in open Miombo woodland. The tree has significant economic importance for the production of local beer and other alcoholic beverages, as well as for the extraction of vegetable oil from its seeds.
Pertinent features
- indigenous
- used medicinally
- bark yields a strong fibre used in rope making
- grown in nursery
- used to provide shade and act as a windbreak