The contribution of species providing non-timber forest products to the livelihoods of local communities is well established. However, this contribution may be limited by the existence of confusion while dealing with close relative species. This is particularly the case for Detarium microcarpum Guill & Perr. and D. senegalense J.F.Gmel. The objectives of this study were to (1) identify the criteria used by local communities to differentiate D. microcarpum and D. senegalense, (2) determine local communities’ perception of the past dynamics of the two species and (3) assess the diversity of uses of both species. Data on differentiation criteria, perceived variation in the species abundance, and the different uses were collected using individual semi-structured interviews (n = 914 informants). The relative frequency of citation and the use-value were calculated. The Chi-square test, correspondence analysis and generalized linear model were used for statistical analyses. Informants used fourteen criteria to differentiate the two species. The predominant criteria were the shape of the seed (87.86%) and the shape of the fruit (67.86%). Most of the informants reported that the populations of D. microcarpum (61.80%) and that of D. senegalense (60.12%) have regressed. In total, 168 use-reports were enumerated for the two species with 19 shared use-reports. We concluded that local communities use a variety of criteria to differentiate both species, the most popular being morphological traits of the fruits. Both species shared several use-reports (11.31%). However, their populations have declined. The documented uses for both species provide preliminary information for their future food uses and drug discovery.

提供非木材林产品的物种对当地社区生计的贡献已得到公认。但是，在处理近缘种时，可能会由于混乱的存在而受到限制。对于Decarpium microcarpum Guill＆Perr来说尤其如此。和D. senegalense JFGmel。这项研究的目的是（1）确定当地社区用来区分D. microcarpum和D. senegalense的标准，（2）确定当地社区对这两种物种过去动态的看法，（3）评估两种物种的用途多样性。使用单独的半结构化访谈（n = 914信息提供者）收集了有关分化标准，物种丰富度的感知变化以及不同用途的数据。计算了相对引用频率和使用价值。卡方检验，对应分析和广义线性模型用于统计分析。线人使用了14条标准来区分这两个物种。主要标准是种子的形状（87.86％）和水果的形状（67.86％）。大多数的举报者报告说，小果皮果石。（D。microcarpum）和塞内加尔森石楠（D. senegalense）的种群为61.80％（60.12％）退步了。总共列举了两个物种的168个使用报告，共有19个共享使用报告。我们得出的结论是，当地社区使用各种标准来区分这两种物种，其中最受欢迎的是水果的形态特征。两种物种共有几个使用报告（11.31％）。但是，他们的人口下降了。这两个物种的书面用途为它们将来的食品用途和药物发现提供了初步信息。