Jacaranda
Jacaranda mimosifolia is a tree indigenous to Brazil and Argentina, but because of its abundant purple flowers, it is used as an ornamental tree in warm parts around the world. I particularly like the second part of its botanical name, mimosifolia which refers to the small leaves which are a part of the larger compound leaf, is sort of rolls off the tongue. Jacaranda flowers are bell-shaped and if you want to talk pretty, the colour is violet and are good bee fodder.
We used to work in a village called, Monduli, which is an old village that hosted a teacher’s training college, the regional office and on the outskirts, an army headquarters and barracks. It was the Tanzania army who got rid of Idi Amim the butcher of Uganda while the United Nations sat on their hands. Anyway, there are a few avenues of Jacaranda around Monduli and it is there I collected seed for my tree nursery. The reason I went to Monduli in the first place was twofold, Maasai kids were taught at Ngarash Primary School and we carried out a tree planting project with them. The project’s success was down to the qualities of the head teacher, a woman much respected within the community. The other reason was because another volunteer became friendly with a local woman, who expressed the desire to start up a women’s group and establish a local tree nursery. I met the women and from the start, could tell they weren’t very motivated, nevertheless to appease the volunteer, I raised some funds and supplied the necessary materials. I think the women expected they would receive money in the hand which curbed their enthusiasm… and I suspect that was what the volunteer thought too.
Jacaranda can survive in dry boney soils, but if there is fertility, it will rob it all. The soils in the areas mostly where I worked were generally rich enough to support two and even three tier farming… if there was adequate rain or irrigation. Three tier farming is timber trees underplanted with maize and with beans growing between the rows of maize. Nothing would grow beneath Jacaranda. But if you see an avenue of them in flower, with the road covered in fallen ‘violet’ flowers, you’d want to plant at least one at your house. The seeds are enclosed in a thin, woody capsule, about seven centimetres across; the capsule becomes brown when ripe and splits open. The seeds are on a roundish, papery wing, so I picked the capsules before they opened. Cutting around the edge to open them was difficult but each one contained about fifty seeds and maybe 75% of seeds sown germinated.
As for uses, the trees make good enough firewood and the tree provides shade but otherwise its not very useful… except. You’ve probably seen those black carvings that come from Africa? They are made from African blackwood or Dalbergia melanoxylon. Unfortunately, overcutting has made the species become rare because it is slow growing and doesn’t grow with much vigour. The seed is more difficult to germinate too but I did grow some, but in the village situation, they weren’t popular because they grew too slow and weren’t attractive. The faster trees grow in the villages the better; fertilize them with dry cow manure, protect them from browsing livestock and scratching hens and manually water them for the shorted time allows novice tree planters to see success quickly, which encourages tree planters… it’s the same around the world.
The entrepreneurial youth found that Jacaranda carves beautifully and the whitish wood is quickly changed to black with the application of good old Kiwi brand shoe polish! Anyone with the knowledge would know the difference in wood weight, but although it might appear to be a bit fraudulent to some, it is a good conservation measure and keeps a number of youths employed. After all the wooden ornaments are bought during the fervour of travel, and they often end up as dust-gatherers on a shelf somewhere.
Hifadhi mazingira! Protect the environment!
