| DESCRIPTION: It is a tree, in the forest up to 20 m or more in height, but in open country and on the forest margin it is shorter and more spreading. Trunk is grey and smooth even in old trees and often buttressed and lichen covered in the forest. Flowers borne in rather open terminal sprays or panicles, they are rich pink or mauve marked purple or wine red, very occasionally white. USE: Wood used as firewood and charcoal. Trees provide bee forage. The kernel yields a lemon-yellow, rather bitter, fixed oil that can be used for making soap. Trees provide valuable shade, can act as windbreaks, be planted as an ornamental and be used in agroforestry. The leaves can be used as a mulch. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. Trees start flowering when 6-8 years old. COMMON NAMES: Cape chesnut, wild chestnut (English). FURTHER INF: It can be found growing in wooded ravines, in evergreen fringe forest, at the coast, sometimes in scrub. It is not restricted to any specific habitat. Trees in forests tend to have straight stems, sometimes buttressed, but trees growing in hot, dry valleys are low and gnarled with dark grey bark and small leaves and flowers. Well-established trees growing in favourable tree or bush groups can survive down to ˆ8°C. The hardy and drought-resistant trees occur naturally from Kenya in the north to the western Cape in the south. |
