Desert date

The thorny “desert date” grows all over Chad – for centuries its fruit and seed oil have helped people survive the hungry season.

A thorny shrub or tree with long green spines and green young shoots that photosynthesise even after the plant has shed its leaves. Its oblong, yellow-brown fruits have bittersweet, sticky flesh, and the hard stone holds an oily seed. The tree is long-lived, regrows after browsing and is almost immune to drought. The fruit, leaves and seed oil are edible, and the bark and fruit have been used as a washing agent and in folk medicine.

Significance in the country

In Chad the heglig is one of the commonest trees of the Sahel and an important source of food for people and fodder for camels and goats. Oil from its seeds is used in cooking and for skin care.

Where it grows

Across almost the whole country – on the savannas of the south, in the Sahel and in the wadis of the Ennedi and Tibesti mountains; most numerous in the Sahel of central Chad.

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