Cadaba farinosa Forssk.

Slender much branched and rather densely twiggy and tangled shrub with arching branches, up to 5 m. tall, or more rarely a tree to 8 m.. Young twigs farinaceous with small white sessile scales or with stalked scales or spreading glandular or eglandular hairs, sometimes all intermixed, becoming glabrous with age.. Leaf-blade elliptic to roundly elliptic, sometimes obovate or obovate-oblong, 5–50 mm. long, 3–30 mm. wide, apically mucronulate, sometimes minutely so, rounded, emarginate or obtuse, farinaceous, especially when young; petiole up to 3 mm. long.. Inflorescence a rather dense but few-flowered shortly subcorymbose raceme; pedicels 5–15 mm. long.. Outer sepals 5–14 mm. long, strongly concave, acute and apiculate, covered with sessile scales, sometimes with stalked glands or with glandular hairs only; inner sepals much more obtuse and flatter.. Petals 10–13 mm. long, creamy-yellow or dirty pink; blade narrowly lanceolate-elliptic, long-clawed.. Androphore up to 5–8 mm. long; appendage of similar length and arising practically at right angles; stamens 4–5; filaments 1–2 cm. long, glabrous; anthers 2.75–4 mm. long.. Gynophore usually densely covered with stalked scales.. Fruits narrowly cylindrical, up to 40 mm. long, 4 mm. across, obscurely torulose, farinaceous.. Seeds surrounded by a red or orange membrane or flesh.

A tropical and subtropical plant. It grows in deciduous wooded grassland. It also grows in coastal bushland. In East Africa it grows from sea level to 1,700 m altitude. It grows in the Sahel. It grows in areas with a rainfall between 200-500 mm per year. It can grow in arid places. It grows in areas with a mean annual temperature of 29°C.

The leaves are pounded and eaten in couscous. The young leaves are used fresh and dried as flavouring. The bark is eaten with cereals. The flowers are crushed and used to flavour and sweeten scones of millet flour. The fruit are used in cake.

Plants can be grown by seeds.