Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
African locust bean bark is the bark of Parkia biglobosa, a tall savannah tree. The tree grows across West Africa. In Hausa it is called dorowa.
The seeds are the famous part of this tree. Fermented, they become dawadawa or iru, a strong-smelling food seasoning. The bark is a separate product and is not a food.
Healers have long used the bark for wounds, loose stools, fever and sore mouths. It is usually boiled into a dark, bitter tea.
Here is the honest verdict. Nearly all the research sits in test tubes and rodents.
No sound human trials back any medical use. Long traditional use is not proof that it works. It is not proof that it is safe either.
The short answer is that no one has shown how this bark works in people.
The bark is rich in tannins. Tannins are plant chemicals that bind proteins and make tissue feel tight and dry. That astringent (tissue-tightening) action is the usual explanation for its old use on wounds and loose stools.
In test tubes, bark extracts slow the growth of some bacteria and fungi. Whether that happens on skin or in the gut is not known.
In rodents, extracts have lowered blood pressure and blood sugar in some studies. These were animal doses, not human ones.
Lab and animal results do not carry over on their own. How much is absorbed, and what is safe in people, has not been worked out.
Most use is home-made rather than commercial. Dried bark is boiled in water to make a decoction (a strong boiled tea).
Other traditional forms include bark powder and bark soaked in cold water. Powder is sometimes mixed into pastes for the skin.
Mouth rinses and washes are made from the same boiled liquid. Strength depends on how much bark is used and how long it boils.
A few online sellers offer dried bark or bark powder. Capsules and measured extracts are rare, and potency is almost never stated.
Remember that the seeds are a different thing. Dawadawa seasoning is a food, not bark medicine.
The bark held a steady place in West African healing for centuries. Written records from Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal describe it.
Healers boiled it for loose stools and fever. Washes and pastes went onto wounds, sores and burns. Mouth rinses were used for toothache and sore gums.
The tree itself carried social value. Villages protected it for its seeds, pods and shade.
This is a record of what people did. It is not advice to treat yourself with bark today.
Stop using it and see a doctor if any of these happen.
You vomit repeatedly, or have belly pain that does not settle. Your stools turn black or bloody.
You feel faint, dizzy or very weak, which can mean low blood pressure or low blood sugar. Your skin or eyes turn yellow (jaundice, a sign of liver trouble).
Get same-day care for a fever after travel to a malaria area. Get urgent care for a wound that is hot, swollen, red-streaked or oozing pus.
Call emergency services for swelling of the lips or tongue, or trouble breathing.
This bark is not approved as a medicine in the UK, the EU, the US or Canada. No health claim for it has been assessed by regulators.
In the US it may be sold as a botanical ingredient, which means safety and strength are not checked before sale. The tree's fermented seeds are an ordinary food in West Africa.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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