Trees in Kruger

[Flutterby]

[Peter Betts]

Leadwood Tree Combretum imberbe

The medium to large tree has a sparse, semi-deciduous canopy of grey-green leaves. The twigs and leaves are hairless as the name imberbe suggests. Its heartwood is dark brown, close-grained, and very hard and heavy, as suggested by its vernacular name. The durable heartwood is much sought after in the woodcarving industry. The Hereros and Ovambos of Namibia attach special cultural and religious significance to the tree, as to them it is the great ancestor of all animals and people, which must be passed with respect.

Range

It is native to the mesic savannas of Africa south of the equator, from KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, in the south to Tanzania in the north. It is a native tree in South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Zambia and Tanzania. It is a protected tree in South Africa.

Desription

The largest bushwillow species of southern Africa[2] has a distinct habit and features. It has a spreading, rather sparse, roundish to a slightly umbrella-shaped crown. The smallish, grey-green leaves and small, yellowish-green samaras are carried on spiny, attenuate branchlets.[4]

It typically grows 7 metres to 15 metres tall but may reach 20 metres. In maturity, the single, solid bole may be up 1.5 metres in diameter. The distinctive bark is pale to dark grey in colour, deeply fissured lengthwise. Irregular horizontal cracks infuse the bark a fairly regular, coarse-grained appearance.

My favourite is The Leadwood Tree on the way to Kannidood. Always on a dirt road ...naturally!

© Peter Betts

[Lisbeth]

Sausage tree | Kigelia pinnata

The Sausage Tree is found from Sub Saharan Africa south to the northern reaches of South Africa.

The sausage tree of sub-Saharan Africa is beautiful in flower. The blood-red to maroon flowers hang in long panicles. The fragrance of the flower is not pleasing to humans but attracts the Dwarf Epauletted Fruitbat (Micropteropus pusillus), its pollinator. As the flowers drop from the tree, animals come to feed on the nectar-rich blooms. Impala, duiker, baboons, bush pigs, and lovebirds all feed on the flowers of the Sausage tree. Grey fruits grow out of these flowers. These grey fruits resemble sausages and can grow for months to become over a foot long and weigh over 5 kilos.

The flower:

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© Lisbeth

[Klipspringer]

The Mahonie Loop around Punda Maria is named after the pod mahogany trees. Here is one of them there in winter.

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Afzelia quanzensis occurs in the Punda Maria-Pafuri sandveld, around Skukuza-Tshokwane and on the Lebombos among rocks on ridges, preferring sandy soil and low-lying areas in dry forest.


The pod mahogany is a medium to large, deep-rooted tree, that may grow up to 35 m high, with a large spreading crown. Its somewhat straight trunk may be up to 1 m in diameter and has grey, smooth bark that is beautifully patterned with raised rings that flake off irregularly, leaving circular patches. The new leaves, which are alternating, are usually copper-coloured and glossy. They become dark green as they age. They are up to 300 mm long and are divided once, with 4-7 pairs of leaflets. Flowers are sweet-scented, borne in erect clusters, and are green with pinkish red petals Large, brown, woody, flat pods, 170 mm long, are produced in late summer. In autumn they split open to release distinctively black seeds with scarlet arils. There may be up to 10 seeds per pod.

[Lisbeth]

[Klipspringer]

Lisbeth

How about your tree here? It is beautiful

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Rina Grant: Sappi Tree Spotting: Lowveld, Including Kruger National Park:

[Richprins]

It is my tree too!





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[Lisbeth]

Thank you, Klippie

[Klipspringer]

Here is another beautiful tree from Lisbeth's Kruger trip

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Large-leaved rock fig, close to Phalaborwa gate

A common fig of rocky hills and koppies in the Kruger National Park where its white stems and roots stand out against the rocks.

Ficus abutilifolia is a small to medium-sized, deciduous to semi-deciduous tree up to 15 m high, though it seldom exceeds 5 m. The bark is whitish to yellowish white and smooth, powdery or somewhat flaking. The trunk is usually twisted or contorted, the branchlets stout and glabrous (lacking hairs) and marked with leaf and stipular scars.
The leaves are broadly ovate and heart-shaped to almost round and are cordate at the base, ranging in size from 75-200 x 65-180 mm. They are glabrous on both surfaces, occasionally with velvety hairs beneath, with 4-9 pairs of secondary veins, entire wavy margins and a petiole up to 120 mm long.
The fruit, which are 15-25 mm in diameter, are borne singly or in pairs in the leaf axils on terminal branchlets, and are smooth to slightly hairy. They may be sessile or on short, stout stalks up to 15 mm long and are green becoming yellow or red when ripe.

Birds, bats, monkeys, baboons, bushpig, warthog and antelope such as bushbuck, nyala, duiker and klipspringer feed on the ripe figs facilitating seed dispersal.

Fig trees are unique in that the flowers are completely concealed within the fig, an enclosed inflorescence, with the hundreds of tiny florets lining the inside of a central cavity, requiring a specialist pollinator. Tiny fig wasps, only a couple of millimeters long perform this function in return for a place to breed.
The wasp species Elisabethiella comptoni is the pollinator of the large-leaved rock fig. The wasps enter the fig through a tiny hole at the top, once in they will pollinate the flowers as they lay their eggs.
Fig trees and fig wasps are completely dependant on each other for reproduction. The fig wasp breeds inside figs and in turn fig trees rely on the wasps to pollinate their flowers. A relationship that is a classic example of an obligate mutualism (neither party can survive without the other) that has evolved over the last 60 or so million years.

[Flutterby]