The well known Mopane trees with their distinctive butterfly-shaped leaves and strange seeds are, for many, the essence of Southern Africas lowveld areas, along with interesting bird and insect life and game animals. They are also an extremely important food source for animals and people. The mopane can be a shrub or a tall tree up to 30 m in the northern part of its range, depending on soil conditions and water availability. It has a tall, narrow crown. The compound leaves are divided in two so that the leaflets resemble butterfly wings or a camels foot. There is a tiny point at the join of the two leaflets which is the remnant of a third, terminal leaflet. Crushed leaves have a turpentine odour. It is a deciduous (sometimes semi-deciduous) tree with lovely autumn and spring colours. Sprays of small, green flowers appear in December and January. These are followed by pods which ripen between April and June and are flat and somewhat kidney-shaped. They change from green to light, finely speckled brown. The flat seeds inside are sticky from resin exuded by glands which cover them. The strange appearance of the seeds is from the convolutions in their surface. Some might say they resemble tiny, flat mottley-brown brains! The greyish brown bark is very deeply fissured in vertical fissures. It has a rough, ropy appearance and is very distinctive. plantzafrica/plantcd/colomopane.htm
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 10:03:26 +0000
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