Bauhinia petersiana

Mgobwali or White Bauhinia [Edible Bauhinia] is indigenous to Tanzania and other parts of Africa. It grows on old termite mounds in woodland areas of medium altitude.The species tolerated dry periods and is noticeable because the thick, black seedpods remain on the tree after the seed have been explosively dispersed.

Description: An evergreen and sometimes deciduous tree > 7m, round-shaped with spreading branches almost from the ground. Branchlets had brown hairs. Bark is pale to dark brown, powdery and smooth when young and flaking in vertical strips when older. The leaves are alternate and simple, blue/green in colour and divided into two lobes - camel foot - 3 - 8 cm across and tomentose below. Flowers are fragrant and white with pink stamens. Petals are wavy and bend backwards. Fruit are dark brown/black pods, smooth, 18cm long and 6 - 8cm wide, splitting explosively to expel 5 - 8 brown/purple seeds that are oily and shiny.

Uses: Seeds are a food source in famine time (not preferred) and early explorers ground a coffee substitute  from the seeds, traditional medicine from roots and leaves, fodder from leaves (and sometimes pods), shade, amenity, tannin from the roots.

Propagation:  There are 1 500 seeds per kg and seeds can only be stored with refrigeration. Pre-soak seed in cold water for 12 hours or carefully nick the seed coat. Sow direct into pots.

There were a few trees on the road to Leguruke and along the section of main road around Kikatiti.

Farmers have left them growing which indicates they have seen value in the tree. We collected seed on occasion and sent some trees out to the various villages.

Annona squamosa

Mtopetope, or  Custard Apple is indigenous to the West Indies and Central America and is grown throughout the tropics. Around Arusha I found it to be an occasional species and usually in gardens of people with an interest in planting them.

The species requires >1000mm rainfall and prefers slightly acid soils.hile it can survive drought, it requires uniform soil moisture from flowering to fruit well.

Description: A small semi-deciduous tree growing perhaps to 6 metres with a short trunk, then branching out widely. Bark is grey with an interlaced pattern of shallow fissures. The leaves are alternate, thin and a dullish green.Narrow oval in shape - 7 - 15 cm. The leaves shed in drought conditions. Flowers are inconspicuous and in groups of 2 - 4, though also solitary and on a stalk. Each flower has 3 fleshy outer petals 2.5cm long, light green and purple at the base - there are 3 inner petals, very small to non-existent,. The fruit are compound and roughly heart-shaped, 5 - 10 cm in diameter. The skin is green/yellow and sometimes powdery. Inside the flesh is yellow/white, aromatic and sweet. The fruit is in sections and within each section is a shiny, large black seed.

Uses: Fruit - has a high vitamin C count. Of course the tree produces fuelwood (but it is too valuable a tree to destroy), ornamental and shelter.

Propagation: The species is best propagated from seed and well stored seed may last for 10 months. There is no treatment necessary to the seed which should be sown directly. No doubt fresh seed is best. Germination is often within a month.

Trees should not be planted closer than 6 metres apart because the tree is susceptible to root-rot. Fruit is left on the tree until it is ripe.

We did not produce many trees for outplanting because seed was difficult to acquire and there were not many sites suitable for outplanting. 

  

Albizia schipmeriana subsp. schimperiana

Mruka is what we called the species in our seminars, from the Kimeru Mduruka, but I find it difficult to identify separately to Albizia gummifera, the most reliable method of identification being the longer seed pods in this species. The name may not be important and harvested the tree has many uses, but these days who would want to down such a beautiful and (when still standing) useful tree.

Description: A semi deciduous tree up to 20 metres with a wide, umbrella shaped crown. Bark is smooth and usually grey and perhaps brownish. Branchlets have velvety brown hairs. Leaves are compound - 4 - 7 leaflets each side on a stalk of about 25 cm. Leaflets are pale and hairy beneath and upper-side glossy green. Tips are rounded. Flowers are creamy white in loose conspicuous heads. Stalks are slightly hairy. Fruit are numerous and persistent dull brown pods with thicker edges. 30 x 6 cm but often smaller with many large seeds.

 

Uses: Fuel-wood and charcoal, timber, tool handles, medicine, bee fodder, monkeys too eat the flowers, shade. soil conservation, nitrogen fixation, gum.

 

Propagation:  There are up to 15 000 seeds per kg. Seeds are attacked by insects on the tree, so need to harvested as soon as ripe. Germination is less than 50% and sporadic. Best and even germination is achieved by  nicking the seed-coat before sowing directly into pots, or by hot water soaking for 24 hours.

Seed stores well if kept cool and dry and insect free.

Seedlings in the nursery are susceptible to pest so should not be retained in the nursery for long.

The species is most suited to higher, cooler sites and prefers shade when first out planted.

A tree behind our house at Makumira always flowered profusely and attracted nuisance monkeys. That same tree did not shed leaves  perhaps because the soil moisture levels were higher than other areas.

It is a good tree to nurture. But needs shade when first out-planted.

Albizia lebbeck

Mkingu in Swahili, and the English woman's tongue referring to the long, brown seed pods, is a tree that has been introduced through tropical regions. Indigenous to India there are plantations in South-East Asia, North and West Africa and South America.

In Tanzania it has been planted mainly as a shade tree and is planted in lower and medium altitudes. The tree  is common in Morogoro and Tanga, preferring black cotton soils with a reasonably high water table - roots are near the surface. The species thrives in most soils.

Description: A deciduous tree to about 14 metres high but with adequate moisture may reach to >20 metres. The tree has a short truck and large branches to support a wide, dense crown. Bark is grey - blueish with brown pore and becomes rough and fissured. Leaves are compound and feathery with + - 10 pairs of leaflets, rounded at the tip and 2 - 3 cm. Branchlets and leaves have distinctive soft, golden hairs. Flowers are numerous, cream, pink and yellow about 3 - 5 cm across, half spherical and stalked. Flowers last just a few days. Fruit are shiny yellow-brown pods - bulging over seeds - in clusters and are borne on the tree for a long time. The seeds in the pods clatter in the wind.

Uses: Fuelwood and charcoal, timber (mainly furniture & flooring), posts, poles, fodder, bee fodder, shade, nitrogen fixation, soil conservation, gum/soap.

Propagation: There are about 10 000 seeds per kg - best collected from the tree but not necessarily and can be stored for a long time if kept dry and insect free. Germination is good at 80% with best results from nicking the seed. Immersion in hot water and soaking for 12 hours is also effective.

Direct sowing into pots is best for later outplanting but a nicked seed placed under a cowpat will grow and survive if protected.

Mkingu grows rapidly on good sites viz. at Valeska Primary School where good care and attention was given to the plantings. It is palatable to stock so protection is required until the tree is above browsing height.

The timber is hard and heavy with a good grain for finished timber. Otherwise a good fuelwood.

   

The Yew Tree at Brockenhurst

Taxus baccata, the Yew tree is of little importance in the scheme of things. The species was planted in cemeteries in the past and it slow growing. Certainly the foliage is poisonous but the fleshy red berries are temping to kids and I ate some with no apparent ill effects.

History records that Yew timber was used for making the famous English longbows - the tension between sapwood and hardwood giving its spring. The wood is hard and durable and I have read that a spearhead was found that was dated back 400 000 years!
But mostly the tree has been planted in churchyards and cemeteries - probably for mystical reasons in the early days, then as tradition.

I was in the New Forest in the South of England and heard that the oldest tree in the forest was a 1000 year old Yew tree at St. Nicholas Church. The New Forest had been set aside as a hunting ground by and for ancient kings.

The church is in the Brockenhurst Parish and the area has been a religious place since at least an Augustine Mission 590 - 600.

A record shows that by 1160 Brockenhurst had become part of the great de Reduers field. and the Lord of the Manor was obliged to provide 'littler for the king's bed and fodder for his horse' whenever the king(s) came hunting. So Norman and Angevin kings probably worshiped at St. Nicholas.

Friends took us for a day trip around the New Forest and they had a 'secret location' for us to visit.  I could not believe my eyes when we passed a small sign pointing towards St. Nicholas Church. I remembered it because that was the name of a church on Barrington Street, Christchurch close to where I grew up. So the tree association was in my memory.

We were indeed going to St. Nicholas church because our friend had on a previous visit found a small New Zealand cemetery. This is a well-cared-for memorial to First World War soldiers who had been injured and treated at the hospital set up at Brockenhurst. The soldiers buried here had not survived after being sent to the hospital.
Of course we had never heard of the Hospital at Brockenhurst, nor of the cemetery but it was a privilege to be able to honour the men buried there. When we arrived home a large book arrived in the mail - for which we are very grateful - it is titled 'New Zealand Graves at Brockenhurst' by Clare Church and it details the lives of the men and provides some of the history.

Our friends had no idea that the Yew tree stood in the church grounds!

 The tree is not an elegant one, but it is large as far as a Yew tree goes and it is the tree that slightly obliterates the church steeple.
Never-the-less in 1793 the girth was 15 feet, by 1930 it was 18 feet and at present it is 20 feet - this is measured at 'breast height' = 5 feet above the ground [here in NZ it is 4'6"].

If I was living in the UK I would probably like to take cuttings and propagate a few plants - there would be little value and it would be just out of interest.
It is interesting to speculate who planted the tree (I guess it was planted and not deposited by a bird).

Say we accept the tree was established in the year 1000, that means it was 27 years old when William the Conqueror was born!

This certificate shows with some authority that the tree is indeed over 1000 years old.

I was fascinated with this headstone to the memory of Harry Mills - 'Brusher Mills'  who was Snake Catcher in the New Forest. He died 1 July 1905 - I bet he could tell some stories!

Low cost household nursery

It is not always possible for people to purchase trees for household, farm or village planting programmes. And again, it is not everyone's interest to spend time growing seedlings especially in hotter/drier areas.

If you remember my Footsteps NZ - TZ blog about Mama Bustani, there are some people who will want to grow a few trees and may no have financial resources to put into the project.

A person may be able to grow only twenty trees and there are of course no limits.

 This small nursery site is designed to maintain moisture levels and assist the establishment of pricked out seedlings of cuttings.

The nursery site is dug into the soil [the soil dug out can be used in the pots - soil mix]. If some plastic sheeting is available, lining the excavated hole is an added benefit. Large stones are placed at the bottom and finer  gravel as a floor to sit the pots on and to level the bottom.

Use bricks or stones to hold up a removable shade-frame made from sticks, bush or any light material.

Pots may be reused polythene pots that are commonly in use, or any container that is suitable [with drain holes] or containers can be made out of banana trunk fibre [bark] or light similar material.

The fibre strip needs to be about 6cm wide and placed in a cross and stand a bottle in the center.
Fold the the strips up the bottle and tie a thin piece of banana fibre/string to hold in place. Trim with a sharp knife

The fibre takes the shape of the bottle and the bottle can be carefully removed then the cavity left is simply filled with soil mix.

A seedling can be pricked out into the pot, or a seed/seeds can be sowed directly. The pot can be set on the nursery site and grown on.
It is a good idea to harden the plants off - exposing them to harsher weather conditions - before outplanting.

There is no need to remove the fibre pot at planting, but the whole thing should be buried because fibre exposed to the air could act as a wick, drawing moisture from the plant.

Not every location has banana fibre available - other suitable materials are - sacking, fertilizer bags, old trouser material, cardboard.

It is always interesting to experiment.

Adansonia digitata

The Baobab is an icon of all Africa as is the flat-topped Acacia. Mbuyu in Swahili and is the tree in my story 'Ndoto ya Grace' Grace's Dream.

The Baobab differs in form throughout Africa but can still be recognized. 'The tree that God planed upside down' because for much of the year the tree is leafless.

It is one of the longest living trees in the world >1000 years! The tree is remarkably drought resistant and the pithy wood holds a lot of moisture - my main picture on the Footsteps NZ - TZ blog is of a Baobab with a hole in it made by elephants searching for water.

Description: I don't really need to describe the tree. A large, deciduous tree with a thick trunk >8m, with  the tree reaching >20m in height - thick branches. The tree is bare for as long as 9 months. The bark is smooth and grey, very thick. Leaves - like fat fingers for the name - and lightish green (and usually a long way from the ground). Flowers are large and white, opening at night to attract bats for fertilization - the nectar has an unpleasant fragrance. Fruit are large, hairy and yellow/brown on long stalks - easily seen on the bare tree. There are around 100 seeds lying in a white/pink powdery pulp, which is edible.

Uses: Fodder - the fallen leaves are eaten by browsing animals. Food - the leaves are eaten in some areas and the dry pulp in the seed capsule is cream of tartar - high in calcium and vitamin C. Made into drinks and coating for traditional sweets. Medicine from bark and roots.String and rope is made from fibre within the bark.

Propagation: There are + - 2 500 seeds per kg and propagation is best by seed. Germination rate is sporadic and can even take as long as seven years! Nicking the seed is beneficial and germination may occur within 30 - 50 days.

The tree grows quickly and is both fire and termite resistant.

Seeds are eaten by monkeys - and humans.

We never produced many Baobab trees for outplanting because they take up so much area when they grow. We did produce a few 'for fun' and they are growing well.