This spiny shrub or small tree with pretty white flowers is known for the snuff boxes that can be made from its hard-shelled fruit. The snuff-box tree grows up to 5 m, but may sometimes reach a height of 8 m. The bark of this plant is mottled grey and rather smooth. The young branches are conspicuously speckled with lenticels (a slightly raised, lens-shaped area on the surface of the young stems that helps with the exchange of gasses between the plant and the surrounding air). The spines are straight and up to 50 mm in length. The blossoms are white and attractive with a yellow centre due to the stamens, resembling a fried egg. They appear on the tree from just before or around the time the new leaves are produced and the tree is in bloom for up to three months. The rounded fruit of up to 60 mm in diameter, consists of a hard shell that becomes dark-reddish brown when mature and small, with shiny brown seeds embedded in a dry, sour, yellowish pulp. The pulp of the fruit is edible, but is seldom used for that purpose. In African medicine the roots are used in the treatment of dysentery and bladder complaints. The hard-shelled fruits are used as snuff boxes. If the fruit are left to dry with the seeds inside they it make amusing rattles for children and are also used as anklets and armlets for dancers to add rhythm when performing