The Balantites aegyptiaca is about 10 metres in height with intricate, spiral patterns arranged along its spines. This tree has dark green leaves growing from its branches that vary in size and shape. Although its yellow fruit is edible, some may find its taste to be too bitter for their liking. Others may resort to the Balantites aegyptiaca when there is nothing else to eat—it is a commonly-used famine food across Africa. The leaves are eaten raw or cooked, the oily seed is boiled and eaten with sorghum, and the flowers are also fully edible. The fruit can even be fermented for alcoholic beverages. If not being used for food, this tree is known to have durable wood used to produce yokes, wooden spoons, pestles, mortars, handles, stools, and combs. Uniquely, the bark is also suited to produce fish poison.

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"The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise."

(Isaiah 43:20-21)