Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori
شوع، اليسر، البان، البهني، حبة غالية، حب اليسار، بيان، بان عوير
For people
- Eaten by people
- Edible
- Toxic to people
- Unknown
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Limited fodder
- Toxic to livestock
- Unknown
Edibility and safety notes
Documented food uses: the swollen root tuber of young saplings was dug up and slowly roasted in the fire in Oman and Yemen, the seed oil (ben oil) is used for cooking, and the leaves are reported to be eaten as food. No good source was found for eating the mature seeds as they are, and a concentrated extract of the plant was toxic to laboratory rats, so do not eat seeds or home-made extracts in quantity. The leaves are fed to livestock in Yemen and Sudan, but their feeding value and safety for animals are not well documented. Digging up saplings kills the tree.
This guide is a hobby project, not expert advice. Never eat a wild plant, or feed it to animals, on the strength of this page alone. Read the disclaimer
Description
A deciduous shrub or small tree up to about 10 m tall, with smooth grey bark and thin, drooping branches. Leaves are 15-40 cm long, twice pinnate with 2-5 pairs of pinnae; the small grey-green leaflets fall early, leaving the bare leaf axes. Flowers are five-petalled, white to cream, often flushed pink, and scented, in hanging axillary clusters. The fruit is a narrow, ribbed, three-valved pod 20-45 cm long. Seeds are globose to ovoid or three-angled, about 1 cm across and not winged.
Habitat
Rocky wadis, cliffs, and gullies in Acacia-Commiphora woodland, sometimes on nearly bare rock, at elevations up to 850 m in the desert or dry shrubland biome.
Distribution
Arid countries around the Red Sea and the Arabian Peninsula: Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia, and from Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabia north to Jordan, Palestine/Israel and Syria. Reports from Iran and Pakistan need confirmation.
Pastoral value
A multipurpose tree and good fodder: the nutrient-rich leaves are fed to livestock and poultry. The wood is also used for charcoal.
Other uses
The seeds yield a light, fragrant oil (ben oil) that does not easily go rancid, used for cooking, cosmetics, perfumery and traditional medicine. In Oman the pod oil and seeds are traditionally used as remedies; the leaves are used to flavour meat in festive pit-roasting, and the tuber of young plants was roasted and eaten. The wood is a local fuel and the tree is a bee plant.
Sources
- الدليل الحقلي المصور للنباتات البرية في سلطنة عُمان (BOOK.pdf p.141)
- PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) — Moringa peregrina — plantuse.plantnet.org(PROTA)
- Wikipedia — Moringa peregrina — en.wikipedia.org
- Senthilkumar et al. 2018, Frontiers in Pharmacology: review of Moringa peregrina (uses, description, toxicity studies) — pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Abu Dhabi Department of Health, Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants of UAE — Moringa peregrina (seen in search results) — medicinalplants.doh.gov.ae
- Useful Tropical Plants: Moringa peregrina — tropical.theferns.info