Trees of limpopo

TREES OF LIMPOPO PROVINCE DALMUIR BOERDERY

Rainfall: Summer (sometimes very eratic).

Temperatures: Summer - hot.

“Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven” Tagore.

Winters - Dry, mild temperatures with slight frosts occasionally.

HAAK EN STEEK Bionomial Name: Vachellia tortilis Characteristics In extremely arid conditions, it may occur as a small, wiry bush. It grows up to 21 m (69 ft) in height.

The tree carries leaves that grow to approx.

2.5 cm (1 in) in length with between 4 and 10 pair of pinnea each with up to 15 pairs of leaflets. Flowers are small and white, highly aromatic, and occur in tight clusters. Seeds are produced in pods which are flat and coiled into a springlike structure.

The plant is known to tolerate high alkalinity, drought, high temperatures, sandy & stony soils, strongly sloped rooting surfaces, and sand blasting. Also, plants older than 2 years have been observed to be somewhat frost resistant.

Growing Conditions Vachellia tortilis tends to grow in areas where temperatures vary from 0 to 50 degree Celsius and rainfall is anywhere from about 100– 1,000 mm (3.9–39.4 in) per year.[ .

Haak en Steek

V. tortilis has a combination of paired straight and paired hooked thorns, from which the Afrikaans name derives, meaning "hook and prick / Haak en Steek".

VALSDORING Bionomial Name: Robinia pseudoacacia Characteristics Valsdoring is a thorny, deciduous, small tree.

Leaves have many leaflets giving a fine tracery when viewed upwards. Sweetly perfumed, white pea-like flowers borne in tresses are followed by small brown pods with several seeds.

The branches can be brittle resulting in damage in windy conditions. Bark, wood, roots and seeds are potentially toxic to sheep, cattle, horses, pigs and poultry. Black locust produces root suckers when the roots are disturbed and dense clumps may develop crowding out other plants. It was often planted around homesteads and stockyards and sometimes the dense thicket is the living reminder of former farming ventures.

Cultivation In South Africa it is regarded as a weed because of its habit of freely suckering from roots near the surface and aggravated by cutting of the main stem.

Black locust has nitrogen-fixing bacteria on its root system; for this reason it can grow on poor soils and is an early colonizer of disturbed areas.

Uses The wood is extremely hard, resistant to rot and durable, making it prized for furniture, flooring, paneling, fence posts and small watercraft.

A less frequently used common name is false Acacia, which is a literal translation of the specific epithet. It was introduced into Britain in 1636.

Valsdoring

KANNIE DOOD Bionomial Name: Erythrina lysistemon Characteristics

Erythrina lysistemon is a lovely, small to mediumsized, deciduous tree with a spreading crown and brilliant red flowers. It is a handsome tree at any time of the year, and its dazzling flowers have made it one of the best known and widely grown South African trees.

This is a stocky, thickset tree that often branches low down and usually grows up to 10 m in height, occasionally reaching 12 m. The bark is smooth and dark gray to gray-brown and is not thickly corky. Short, hooked prickles are sparsely and randomly scattered on the trunk and branches.

Uses Erythrina lysistemon is not just a decorative tree, it is also an important component of the ecosystem, providing food and shelter for a variety of birds, animals and insects.

Erythrina lysistemon is thought to have both medicinal and magical properties by many people.

Women about to give birth are given an infusion of herbs to make the birth easier. The bark applied as a poultice is used to treat sores, wounds, abscesses and arthritis. Erythrina lysistemon does contain a large number of alkaloids that are known to be highly toxic, but its use in traditional medicine suggests that they have antibacterial, antiinflammatory and analgesic effects. The seeds are used as lucky charms. .

Kanniedood

Erythrina lysistemon is a lovely, small to medium-sized, deciduous tree with a spreading crown and brilliant red flowers

HARDEKOOL Bionomial Name: Combretum imberbe Characteristics The Hardekool Tree is a protected tree in South Africa. The Leadwood tree is a semi-deciduous plant found from KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa in the south to Tanzania in the north. It normally grows up to 20 metres (66 feet) tall.

The Leadwood tree has a spreading, rather sparse, roundish to slightly umbrella-shaped crown and a single, thick trunk, with distinctive bark breaking up into fairly regular rectangular blocks.

The Hardekool Tree is a protected tree in South Africa. .

It normally grows up to 20 metres (66 feet) tall

Radiocarbon dating, done in South Africa, has established that a Leadwood tree can live up to 1040 +/-70 years and subsequently remain standing for years after the tree has died.

Uses  The wood is very hard, difficult to work, and termite resistant. It was once used for railway sleepers and is now prized as wood for ornamental work and furniture.  It burns very slowly with intense heat, and is often used for a fire which is intended to burn all night in order to keep wild animals at bay. It is sometimes used in a barbecue to provide a hot, long-lasting flame.  The ashes are used as whitewash for painting walls of kraal huts.  The ashes can also be used as toothpaste

Hardekool

KNOPIESDORING Bionomial Name: Acacia nigrescens Characterisitics The knob thorn is a deciduous tree that grows 5–18 m in height, with a long cylindrical shape and rounded crown. It has knobs on the trunks and on branches with persistent thorns arising on the knobs. The trunk is approximately 0.5 m in diameter on mature specimens but can reach 0.75 m. Thorns are in pairs below the leaves. Flowers are yellowish white in elongated spikes during Aug.–Nov. Uses Knob thorn trees are the host of hole-nesting bird species and the larvae of the dusky charaxes butterfly. The wood is hard and drought- and termiteresistant but frosttender; it has been used to make fence posts and mine props.

The knob thorn yields good quality firewood producing lasting coals and severe heat.

It is not regularly used for furniture because it is difficult to cut. Knob thorn leaves and pods are included in the diet of elephant, giraffe, kudu, duiker, impala and steenbok.

Traditional Medicine Acacia nigrescens flowers are a dietary component for giraffes. Its flowers contain almost three times as much condensed tannin as leaves. Giraffes consume large quantities of flowers resulting in distinct browse lines on the trees.

Knopiesdoring

Acacia nigrescens is a deciduous, small to medium-sized tree which occurs in various savanna regions, often at low altitudes, and in rocky areas, on well drained soil. It is drought- and termite-resistant

SOETDORING Bionomial Name: Vachellia karroo Characteristics It is a shrub or small to medium-sized tree which grows to height of 12m. Vachellia karroo has a rounded crown, branching fairly low down on the trunk. It is variable in shape and size, reaching a maximum of about 12m where there is good water. The bark is red on young branches, darkening and becoming rough with age. Sometimes an attractive reddish colour can be seen in the deep bark fissures Growing Conditions It is a tree of open woodland and wooded grassland.

Everywhere in its range, however, the tree is easily recognised by its distinctive long white paired thorns and coffee coloured bark, both of which are very attractive.

Vachellia karroo has a life span of 30–40 years and is an adaptable pioneer, able to establishing itself without shade, shelter or protection from grass fires. Once over a year old, seedlings can resprout after fire. Several fungi are associated with this tree and the crown of mature trees may be parasitized by various mistletoes, leading to the tree's decline

Uses V. karoo is used for chemical products, forage, domestic uses, environmental management, fibre, food, drink, and wood

Soetdoring

The sweet thorn makes a beautiful garden specimen. The bright yellow flowers look very striking against the dark green foliage.

Caterpillars of 10 species of butterflies are dependant on the tree for survival.

WITSERING Bionomial Name: Kirkia acuminata Characteristics This is a straight-stemmed tree with a fine, round , leafy crown. It grows from 6 to 18 m high with a trunk diameter of 0.8 m. The leaves are sticky when young, colouring splendidly to gold and red in autumn. Flowers small, greenish-cream, in branched axillary inflorescences

Historic The genus Kirkia is named in honour of Sir John Kirk, a famous explorer and a naturalist. The specific epithet acuminata probably comes from the narrowly tapering apex to a long point (acuminate).

Uses According to Palmer & Pitman (1972), the white seringa is regarded as a sacred tree in some places in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean women also use the bark of the tree for weaving. In Gauteng, white seringa is planted around enclosures for livestock (kraals).

Witsering

It was selected as one of the SA Trees of the Year for 2004 Kirkia acuminata flowers from October to December with small greenish cream flowers

BOABAB Bionomial Name: Adansonia Characteristics Adansonias reach heights of 5 to 30 m (16 to 98 ft) and have trunk diameters of 7 to 11 m (23 to 36 ft). The Glencoe baobab, a specimen of A. digitata in Limpopo Province, South Africa, was considered to be the largest living individual, with a maximum circumference of 47 m (154 ft) and a diameter of about 15.9 m (52 ft)

Water Storage Baobabs store water in the trunk (up to 100,000 litres or 26,000 US gallons) to endure the harsh drought conditions particular to each region. All occur in seasonally arid areas, and are deciduous, shedding their leaves during the dry season.

Uses Since 2008, there has been increasing interest for developing baobab seeds or dried fruit powder for consumer products.

The seeds of some species are a source of vegetable oil. The dried fruit powder of A. digitata contains about 12% water and modest levels of various nutrients, including carbohydrates, riboflavin, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and phytosterols, with low levels of protein and fats. Its contents of dietary fiber (approximately 50% by weight), ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and thiamin were assessed to be especially high.

Food Uses The powdery white interior may be used as a "thickener in jams and gravies, a sweetener for fruit drinks, or a tangy flavor addition to hot sauces

Boabab

Adansonia is a genus of nine species of tree, including six native to Madagascar, two native to mainland Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and one native to Australia.

ROSYNTJIE BOS Bionomial Name: Grewia occidentalis Characteristics A small, scrambling, deciduous tree reaching a height of about 3m, its purple, star-shaped flowers appear in summer, followed by distinctive fourlobed berries (from where it gets its common names "crossberry" and "four-corner"). These shiny reddish-brown fruits remain on the tree for long periods and are favoured by fruit-eating birds.

The simple leaves are shiny, deep green and sometimes slightly hairy.

Growing Conditions This decorative garden plant tolerates both frost and drought. It also grows in both full sun or shade. The root system is not aggressive and can therefore be planted near buildings and paving, and it is very good at attracting butterflies and birds to the garden. The crossberry is best propagated from seed, although even then it can be erratic, as usually the seed needs to pass through the gut of a monkey before germination commences.

The berries are eaten locally, either fresh and raw, fermented with traditional beer, or used with goats milk to make berry yoghurt..

Rosyntjie Bos

Grewia occidentalis (or crossberry) is a small, hardy, attractive tree indigenous to Southern Africa

STERKBOS Bionomial Name: Terminalia prunioides Characteristics It is a small to medium sized semi–deciduous shrub like tree, usually multi stemmed, and seldom growing taller than six metres on Ingwelala. It is striking at this time of the year because of the beautiful reddish-purple fruit that represent its ripened state. The flowers that precede the fruit are small slender spikes which are creamy white in colour, producing a somewhat unpleasant odour.

Pollination is insect dependant.

Uses The wood is very hardy, used for building material in traditional huts and because the tree is never too, large the wood is also used for crafting small pieces of furniture. Agriculturally, (rural) the wood is used for making handles and implements.

It is used for fence posts and is borer-resistant.

Although the wood pieces are small, it makes excellent firewood and can be used to make good quality charcoal. The wood is yellow in colour.

In terms of a food source, the tree produces an edible gum. Game, especially elephants and giraffes, eat the leaves and new shoots.

Sterkbos

The name, Terminalia prunioides, is from the Latin ‘terminalis’ meaning ‘ending’ and refers to the growth habit of the leaves which are crowded at the end of the shoots. “Prunioides’ is from the Latin ‘prunus’ meaning ‘plum’ which is the plum-red colour of the fruits.

WITGAT Bionomial Name: Boscia albitrunca Characteristics It grows up to 10 metres tall but usually much smaller. It is an evergreen tree native to Southern and Tropical Africa, living in the hot, dry, and often brackish low-lying areas, sometimes on abundant lime and occasionally found in rocky terrain.

The trunk is distinctly smooth and white or whitish grey with bare stems. The flowers are yellowish green and heavily scented (July-Nov.)

Interesting Fact The species has a number of pollinators and is a source of food for various mammals, birds and butterflies. Livestock as well as other herbivores in savanna areas such as giraffe, gemsbok and kudu browse the tree.

Uses The root is pounded to make porridge. It is commonly used as a substitute for coffee or chicory.

The root is also used to make a beer and to treat haemorrhoids. The leaves are nutritious and are often browsed by cattle, although the milk is then said to be tainted. An infusion of the leaves is used to treat eye infections in cattle. The fruits are used in traditional dishes and the flower buds as caper substitutes in pickles. It is said that if the fruits wither before the millet crop is ripe, the harvest will be a failure. Household utensils are made from the wood. If the wood is burnt, it is believed that cows will produce only bull calves.

Witgat

Boscia albitrunca is a protected tree in South Africa. The shepherd's tree is the most common of the eight species in its genus and is usually found in the drier parts of southern Africa. It is often called the Tree of Life as it offers sustenance to both humans and animals.

MARULA Bionomial Name: Sclerocarya birrea Characteristics The marula is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree with an erect trunk and rounded crown. It is one of the plants that played a role in feeding people in ancient times. Male and female flowers are borne on separate trees, the flowers of male plants producing pollen and the female flowers producing the fruit for which the tree is so well known. These are green on the tree and turn yellow after falling (Feb-June).

The compound leaves tend are mostly crowded at the end of the branches.

Medicinal Uses The powdered bark is used to treat pregnant women to determine the gender of an unborn baby. Traditional healers use the hard nut in their divining dice.

A decoction of the bark treats dysentery, diarrhoea, rheumatism and has a prophylactic effect against malaria.

The bark is an excellent remedy for haemorrhoids.

Roots and bark are also used as laxatives.

Uses The wood is used for furniture, panelling, flooring, carvings and household utensils like spoons. The inner layer of bark makes a strong rope.

The fruit is edible, eaten either fresh or made into a delicious jelly. It also makes alcoholic beer known as Mukumbi by the Vhavenda people. A marula liqueur is available commercially. The white nut is highly nutritious and is eaten as it is or mixed with vegetables.

Fruit-farming communities prefer planting a couple of these trees to attract pollinators to their farm in early spring.

Marula

The edible fruits and the multiple uses associated with almost all parts of the marula, make it one of southern Africa's most valued trees.

MOPANI Bionomial Name:

Colophospermum mopane

Characteristics The marula is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree with an erect trunk and rounded crown. It is one of the plants that played a role in feeding people in ancient times. These are green on the tree and turn yellow after falling (Feb-June).

Uses Mopane wood is one of southern Africa's heaviest and is difficult to work because of its hardness.

However, this also makes it termite resistant. For this reason it has long been used for building houses and fences, as railway sleepers and as pit props.

The termite-resistance and rich, reddish colouring also make it popular for flooring.

Outside Africa, mopane is gaining popularity as a heavy, decorative wood, its uses including aquarium ornaments, bases for lamps or sculptures, and garden accents.

It is also increasingly being used in the construction of musical instruments, particularly woodwind. Suitable quality African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon), traditionally used for clarinets, is becoming harder to find. Mopane is fairly oily, seasons very well with few splits or shakes, and produces instruments of a warm, rich tone.

Mopane twigs have been traditionally used as tooth brushes, bark to make twine and for tanning, and leaves for healing wounds. The wood is also used to make charcoal and for braai wood.

Mopani

The tree only occurs in Africa and is the only species in genus Colophospermum. Colophospermum mopane, grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, 200 to 1,150 metres (660 to 3,770 ft) in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern Africa, into South Africa