The Bark is smooth and dark grey, often with marked light and dark patches, and on younger stems or branches is covered with white lenticels in vertical rows. The slash is crimson with white streaks. The bark of older trees is roughish, with close-fitting, small scales.
The Leaves are about 15 inches long, pinnate, with 6-10 pairs of opposite, or nearly, pointed, wavy-edged leaflets some 3 inches long, a dull dark green above, pale beneath, with a prominent mid-rib on the under side which is reddish, as is the stalk of the leaf. They are borne on the last foot of the twig in erect, rosette-like bunches.
The Flowers are in panicles 5-6 inches long, amongst the leaves in February and March. Each flower has 5 pale green petals, 10 stamens with black anthers and a knobbed pistil. The filaments of the stamens are united up to the anthers.
The Fruits are capsules 1-1½ inches in diameter, normally of 4 segments, but owing to the growth of one or more at the expense of the rest, the capsule is often irregularly developed. They are light brown in colour and at first sight resemble those of Khaya but contain brilliant red oval seeds set in a bright yellow aril, embedded in the thick walls of the capsule, in a vertical position.
ENTADA SUDANICA Schweinf.—Tawatsa. LEGUMINOSAE.
A very common species occurring everywhere in savannah forests of the more open type; usually about 20 feet high, sometimes more, with an average girth of 3 feet. It forks and branches low and has, as a rule, no length of bole and a widespreading, open crown. In full leaf it is graceful in appearance and not unlike Parkia. It is of no use as a forest species except from its frequency.
The Bark is light grey with very long fissures and ridges set widely apart. It peels in long strips and provides a fibre, as does that of the roots which is in local use for rope. The slash is crimson and white in thin streaks.
The Wood is a light red colour. In transverse section the rings are well marked dark lines, close together, the pores are large, open, few, widely scattered, single or in small nests or rows of two or three, the rays straight, continuous, not too evenly spaced, some just visible to the naked eye. In vertical section the pores are long, open and sparse, and the grain fairly well marked in darker red lines. The wood is not hard, easily worked, planes to a nice smooth finish and is sound and compact. The weight is 50 lbs. a cubic foot.