Great Rift Valley Lodge and Resort Fun fact

Trees/shrub

Common Name: Cape ash

Scientific name: Ekebergia capensis

Swahili Name:   Kundambara

    

                 Uses and treatment

·         Part used: Leaves, fruits, seeds and stem

v  The wood is locally valued for furniture. Used for light construction, poles and tool handles. It is suitable for light flooring, joinery, interior trim, ship building, vehicle bodies, sporting goods, toys, novelties, vats, food containers, boxes, crates, matches, turnery, veneer and plywood. It is also used as firewood and for charcoal production.

v  The bark, roots and leaves are widely used in traditional medicine. Bark decoctions, infusions and macerations are taken to treat gastritis, heartburn, dysentery, epilepsy, gonorrhea and as vermifuge.

v  Applied externally to ulcers, abscesses, boils, scabies, acne, pimples and itching skin.

v   A powder prepared with the bark is sniffed against headache, colds and sinusitis.

v  A root decoction is taken as a diuretic and to treat kidney problems, dysentery, heartburn, headache and respiratory complaints.

v  The root is chewed as an expectorant. Charred pulverized roots are sniffed for treatment of headache and blocked nose.

v  Leaf macerations are used internally or externally to treat headache, fever, cough and skin complaints, and they are taken as a vermifuge.

v  The wood is used by Zulu people to facilitate childbirth.

v   Decoctions of various parts used traditionally in central Ethiopia as an anthelmintic for the treatment of livestock

v  Bark and roots have been used as poison.

v  In southern Africa, the bark has been used for tanning.

v  The fruit is edible but usually not much liked.

v   The foliage is browsed by livestock in the dry season.

v   Planted as an ornamental, particularly as a roadside tree, but also as a garden tree for its attractively coloured fruits and for shade.

v  It is occasionally planted for soil conservation, as a windbreak and as a shade tree in coffee and banana plantations.

v  The flowers are a source of nectar and pollen for honey bees.

Fun fact:

     

Visit us at Great Rift Valley Lodge to see the natural phenomena that was discovered by the road constructors 6 km from the lodge. The lava channels are amazingly deep and wide. The road construction had to be diverted to KSARANI shopping centre.   

Written By: Kilonzo, naturalist at GRVL