more about trees

JACKALBERRY

Scientific Name: DIOSPYROS MESPILLIFORMIS

HEIGHT: A medium to large (10-25m), evergreen tree with a tall, bare, fluted trunk and a dense, spreading crown.

Bark: Is dark brown and grooved.

Leaves: Are shiny dark green, simple and oblong in shape with wavy margins.

Flowers: Are small, white and bell – shaped; male and female on separate trees (Oct-Nov)

Fruits: Are fleshy, round and yellow, up to 25mm in diameter, with a bristle-tip; the sepals of the flower are retained on the fruit( Apr-Sep)

The fruit pulp is jelly-like and tasty

HABITAT: Bushveld, near rivers and streams, often on termitaria.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES:

• The leaves are browsed by game.
• Fruits are eaten by game, birds and people.
• The fruit can be eaten fresh or stored as a preserve and can also be used to make beer with.
• Wood provides a good timber, being close grained, strong, hard, and durable and almost termite proof.
• It can be used to make canoes, stamping blocks and pestles a well as furniture and flooring.
• Butterflies breed on this tree and seeds can be found in jackal dung, hence the common name

medicinal uses and traditional beliefs:

• The leaves, twigs and bark provide remedies for ringworm, leprosy, fevers and dysentery, and can be used to treat wounds.
• There is a superstition that one should not eat the fruit when away from home for the fear of becoming possessed by spirits.

STATUS: Protected

Knob Thorn

SCIENTIFIC NAME: ACACIA NIGRESCENS

It grows to between 5-18m in height and its wood is fire-resistant.

The common names in English and Afrikaans refer to the very characteristic knobbed thorns. The knobs, which are borne on the trunks and branches, are occasionally lacking in individual specimens.

The Knob Thorn's leaves are double pinnately compound, and have the largest leaflets of all the Acacias.

Flowers: The scented flowers are borne in spikes about 100mm in length. In the bud stage the flowers are reddish-brown in colour, turning cream-white when fully open.

Fruit: The fruit is a pod about 100mm long and 13-25mm wide. The Latin name nigrescens means 'becoming black' and refers to the pods turning black as they ripen. They are eaten by giraffe and other animals. Elephant eat the branches, leaves and shoots, kudu browse the leaves and shoots, and giraffe, monkey and baboon eat the flowers.
The Knob Thorn is a firm favourite of the giraffe, and its diet comprises 40% of this tree throughout the year. During the short flowering season, it provides a quarter of the giraffe’s food intake.
Giraffe’s are also believed to be the main pollinator of the Knob-thorn tree.  

Uses: The trees are used by hole nesting birds. The wood is hard and termite-resistant, and has been used to make posts and mine props. The species is drought-resistant but frost-tender and also makes a good bonsai subject. It is a very hard timber, but although it is extremely durable it is not generally used for furniture.
The inner bark of the Knob Thorn braids into a good twine. The older trees tend to be dark, while the younger trees have a more yellowish colour. The bark is used for tanning leather, as it contains 15% tannin.

Distribution: This species has a wide distribution, occurring in the drier parts of southern Africa as far north as Tanzania. Often on deep, sandy soils and most commonly in widely-spaced stands. It is a familiar sight to visitors to the Kruger National Park. Acacia trees are considered fine leaved trees and usually occur lower down in areas with clay soils.

References
« Game ranger in your Backpack
Megan Emmett
Sean Pattrick
Published by BRIZA PUBLICATIONS
Pretoria
2010
« Google searches
« Wikipedia
Research was done by Henk Labuschagne

marula

SCIENTIFIC NAME: SCLEROCARYA BIRRE

HEIGHT: A medium to large (7-18m), deciduous tree with a broad, straight trunk and a widely spreading, rounded crown.

Bark: Is flaky and the twigs are thick-tipped.

Leaves: Are compound with 3-7 pairs of leaflets and a terminal one, 30-100 x 15-40mm.

On young plants the leaflets have toothed margins.

FLOWERS: Are small pinkish- red, and male and female flowers occur on separate trees (Sep – Nov).

FRUITS: Are large and fleshy, up to 40mm in diameter, and ripen yellow (Jan-Mar).

Only the female trees carry fruit.

HABITAT: Woodland and bushveld

ECOLOGICAL NOTES:

• The leaves are browsed by game, and the bark is stripped by elephants.
• These trees are among the most highly valued of the indigenous species.
• The fruits are eaten by livestock, game, monkeys, baboons and people; are used to brew an alcoholic drink and to make a delicious jelly preserve.
• The tasty nut-like kernels are eaten and cooked with porridge, they are also crushed and boiled in water the resulting oil is skimmed off and massaged into the skin as a cosmetic.
• The timber is used for carvings and firewood, and the bark is used to make a dye.
• The fruit has considerable nutritious value as the pulp contains four times as much vitamin c as orange juice.
• The flowers attract insects and butterflies and moths breed on the tree.

medicinal uses and traditional beliefs:

• Bark that has an astringent taste is used in the treatment of dysentery and diarrhoea.
•  It is believed to prevent malaria, particularly if gathered before the first flush of leaves, when taken as a tincture in brandy or powdered and swallowed in teaspoonsful, it is thought to provide an effective cure for the fever.
• The powdered bark is sometimes given to a pregnant woman to make certain that the child will be of the desired sex: for a girl she must the the bark of a female tree, and for a boy the bark from a male tree.

WEEPING BOER-BEAN

SCIENTIFIC NAME: SCHOTIA BRACHYPETALA

HEIGHT: A medium to large (3 -25), semi-deciduous tree with a broad trunk, and a dense, spreading, rounded crown.

It has spectacular deep red flowers, especially evident before the new leaves appear.

BARK: Is rough and grey-brown.

LEAVES: Are compound, with 4-6 pairs of shiny, dark green leaflets, 25-80 x 40mm which are unequal – sided at the base.

FLOWERS: They are dense and appear mainly on old wood; their petals are reduced and threat-like (Aug-Nov).

PODS: Are flat, woody and dark brown

SEEDS: Are light yellow aril (Jan- May)

HABITAT: Woodland and on stream banks and termitaria.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES & MEDICINAL USES:

• Leaves are browsed by game.
• The flowers produce copious nectar and attract insects, birds and monkeys.
• Seeds are roasted and the eaten.
• Wood, which is hard, heavy and very dark in colour, makes beautiful furniture.
• The bark can be used for tanning.
• Sap-sucking spittle bugs excrete waste liquid which weeps from the tree gives the tree its common name.
• A decoction of the bark can be used for heartburn and to alleviate a hangover.

SPINY MONKEY - ORANGE

SCIENTIFIC NAME: STRYCHNOS SPINOSA

HEIGHT: A shrub or small tree 1-7m in height

BARK: Is grey, roughish, tending to flake in rectangular segments, sometimes looking like a lizard’s skin on the branches.

LEAVES: In pairs or sometimes in 3s, elliptic, ovate to almost circular.

They are light to dark green and glossy above, dull and paler below.

FLOWERS: Creamy green, up to6mm long, in compact heads about 4 x3, 5 cm.

FRUIT: Round, up to 12cm diameter, woody-shelled, slightly warty, green with very faint speckles, remanning on the tree for  sometime, finally becoming deep yellow or yellow-brown.

SEEDS: 10-100, embedded in the edible pulp

HABITAT: Coastal bush, open woodland, bushveld and riverine fringes

ECOLOGICAL NOTES & MEDICINAL USES:

• Sounding – boxes for the musical instrument known as the mbira are sometimes made from the shells of the dried fruits.
• Fruits when yellow are edible.
• Roots or green fruits are used in traditional medicine as an antidote to snakebites, while the roots alone provide an emetic and also a remedy for fevers and inflamed eyes.
• An analgesic is made from a decoction of the leaves, and jigger fleas are removed from the feet by an application of a paste in which the grated root is mixed with oil.