Snuffbox tree / Snuifkalbassie
Snuffbox tree / Snuifkalbassie
This spiny shrub or small tree with pretty white flowers is known for the snuff boxes that can be made from its hard-shelled fruit. An ideal barrier plant.
Botanical Name:
Oncoba spinosa
Did you know?
Flowers somewhat resemble a fried egg and in Zimbabwe it is called the fried-egg flower.
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Silver clusterleaf / Vaalboom
Silver clusterleaf / VaalboomThe silver clusterleaf has a spreading crown with horizontal branches. The bark is grey and deeply fissured. The grey-green leaves are clustered at branch ends and are covered in shiny, silvery hairs, making the whole tree look silvery from a distance.
Botanical Name:
Terminalia sericea
Did you know?
Terminalia sericea is important in traditional medicine. The leaves and roots are boiled in water and the infusion is taken orally for the treatment of coughs, diarrhoea and stomach ache. The leaves can be used as an antibiotic for wounds. In the case of bleeding, a paste can be made by cooking the leaves in water and placing them on the wounds.
Pod-mahogany / Peulmahonie
Pod-mahogany / PeulmahonieA very attractive medium-sized tree with a short trunk and widespreading crown. The glossy dark green leaves turn ino an attractive yellowish colour in the Autumn months.
Botanical Name:
Afzelia quanzensis
Did you know?
The light red-brown wood of the pod mahogany is hard and has a good grain. It has been used for building, making plywood, furniture, panelling and for flooring. Traditionally the wood is used for making dugout canoes and grain stamping mortars.
Buffalo thorn / Blikblaar wag-n-bietjie
Buffalo thorn / Blikblaar wag-n-bietjie
Buffalo thorn / Blikblaar wag-n-bietjie
Buffalo thorn / Blikblaar wag-n-bietjieit makes a pleasant shade tree and gives life to the garden by luring birds and insects such as butterflies, beetles and bees. In Botswana as well as most parts of South Africa, the residents believed the buffalo thorn to be immune against lightning, anyone standing under one in a storm would be safe. It is also believed that if it is felled in summer, a drought, hail or lightning will certainly follow.
Botanical Name:
Ziziphus mucronata
Did you know?
Ziziphus mucronata, or as it is more frequently known, the wag-‘n-bietjie tree is said to represent life as we know it. The young twigs are zigzag, indicating that life is not always straightforward. Two thorns at the nodes are also significant; one facing backward represents where we come from and one facing forward, represents where we are going.
Hook-thorn / Haakdoring
Hook-thorn / HaakdoringThis beautiful tree is the most common naturally occurring senegalia in the Witwatersrand National Botanical Garden. It has an irregular, spreading crown. One of the most attractive features of the tree is the foliage which is bright green and feathery looking. The leaves are drooping which gives the canopy a lovely soft look.
Botanical Name:
Senegalia caffra
Did you know?
The common hook-thorn is used traditionally for many purposes such as fencing posts, tanning and the beautiful rootwood is highly valued by Xhosa women for tobacco pipes.
