Allophylus rubifolius (Hochst. ex A.Rich.) Engl.

No data

maintenanceAr.Item1 maintenanceAr.Item3

Lowveld False Rhus

Like the other summer flowering trees and shrubs, the flowers of this species are an important bee forage, producing a dark, sweet honey. The fruit are very and stringent, but were nonetheless considered to be edible, and indeed to have beneficial restorative and cleansing qualities by some people. The leaves were pounded to a paste and applied to the base of swellings or around an infected wound to draw the pus and speed up the healing process. The wood was exploited as a good building material but trees were never common enough to have been widely used construction. The wood of the longer, straighter branches was considered to be strong and hard enough for the making of the staff or stave that each and every herder used to carry [J: xotrok]. The long branches of the better specimens were also made into crutches, or the double pointed fishing spears, and ... into handles for other implements, such as the tool for clearing and preparing agricultural ground [J: menzaht], the pointed digging tool [J: zik], the sickle for harvesting and cutting grass for livestock [J: mesreb], the saw [J: mensor], the axe [J: fus], or the heavy bladed wood-chopper [J: gizeret], for instance. The dead wood made indifferent charcoal, but as firewood it was much appreciated for the brightness of light it gave out, although never as striking in this respect as was the wood of Premna resinosa [J: sebhit]. Nevertheless, the wood of both species was much in demand for the fires that were lit as the sun went down both for cooking and for illumination; or for the large fires that were lit to welcome large groups of people, when there were mant visitors to an encampment, or for celebrations and feasts – all occasions when the brightest possible illumination was wanted. The leaves have been used in traditional medicine to treat skin ulcers, wounds and boils; the fruit are edible. The flowers are an important bee forage and produce a dark honey. (Ref. Plants of Dhofar).

*Ghazanfar, S. (2007). Flora of the Sultanate of Oman, vol.2: Crassulaceae – Apiaceae. Meise, National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Scripta Botanica Begica, Vol. 36). ISBN 9789072619747 ISSN 0779-2387. *https://en.wikipedia.org *Miller, A., Morris, M. (1988). Plants of Dhofar, the Southern Region of Oman: Traditional, Economic, and Medicinal Uses. Published by Office of the Adviser for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court, Sultanate of Oman; ISBN 10: 0715708082 ISSN 13: 9780715708088. *Gledhill, D. (2008). The Names of Plants. Fourth Edition. Cambridge University Press, UK. ISBN 978-0-521-86645-3 ISSN 978-0-521-68553-5. *POWO (2023). ""Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org