Trees bees use - Kotschya recurvitolia

Paul Latham, UK

Genus: Fabaceae

Common name: Intenga

Description: A very variable, erect, much branched, aromatic shrub up to 4 m fall. The plant is covered with yellow to whitish sticky, hairs.

Leaves are compound with 8-18 leaflets which are curved at the tips.

Flowers are borne in dense masses, are golden yellow and covered with golden bristly hairs. The pods are hairy and the seeds greenish to dark red-brown.

Ecology: It is one of the dominant plants of upland grassland above 1,800 m in Umalila, southern Tanzania. Also present in moorland, bamboo forest, forest glades, at forest edges and in secondary thickets.

Present in Ethiopia and south to Malawi and Zambia.

Uses: A valuable bee forage plant, yielding nectar throughout the day during May and June. The stems make good firewood which does not produce much smoke. Finger millet is commonly planted on land cleared from Kotschya recurvifolia as it is reported to improve soil quality.

References

CRIBB, PJ.; LEEDAL, G.P (1982) The Mountain Flowers of Southern Tanzania. A A Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

BEENTJE, H.J. (1994) Kenya Trees. Shrubs and Lianas. National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya.

BURROWS, J.; WILLIS, €. (2005) Plants of the Nyika Plateau. SABONET 31 405 pp.