''Combretum erythrophyllum'', commonly known as the river bushwillow, is a medium to large-sized, spreading tree found in bush along river banks in southern Africa. It is planted as a shade and ornamental tree in South Africa and the United States, and is propagated by seed.
Description
It is a medium to large tree 7 to 12 m in height. It has a straight or multi-stemmed bole with a dense spreading crown. It is frost and drought hardy.
Bark and wood
The bark is a smooth pale gray or yellow brown that flakes with age to expose pale bark patches with large lumps (note: not galls) which sometimes occur on older trunks and main branches. The coarse wood shows little distinction between sapwood and heartwood.
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Leaves
The leaves are simple, subopposite or in whorls of three,[ and elliptic with tapering base and apex (50 x 20 mm). The upper surface is usually without hairs, while the under surface has hairs.]stipule
In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...
s are absent. Inconspicuous scales cover both surfaces.[ The leaf's midrib and lateral veins are very conspicuous. It is deciduous to semi-deciduous, and the leaves turn yellow and red in autumn (the specific name ''erythrophyllum'' means red leaf).
]
Flowers
The cream or yellowish, bisexual flowers are produced in dense, rounded axillary spikes, about 10 cm in diameter and up to 3 cm long.[ They appear after the first leaves in spring or early summer.
]
Fruit
The 4-winged fruit are yellow to brown in colour and 10 to 15 mm in length.
Distribution
Found in riverine bush or where there is sufficient ground water in Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Ecology
Wasps lay their eggs in the walls of the fruit and the larvae feed on the seeds inside the fruit. The southern black tit
The southern black tit or simply black tit (''Melaniparus niger'') is a species of bird in the tit family Paridae, which is native to woodland habitats in southern Africa.
Subspecies
Three subspecies are recognized:
* ''Melaniparus niger niger'' ...
taps the fruit to check if there are larvae inside, when discovered they open the fruit and eat the larvae. ''Combretum erythrophyllum'' leaves are browsed by giraffe
The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, '' Giraffa cameloparda ...
, elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
, bushbuck
The Cape bushbuck (''Tragelaphus sylvaticus'') is a common and a widespread species of antelope in sub-Saharan Africa.Wronski T, Moodley Y. (2009)Bushbuck, harnessed antelope or both? ''Gnusletter'', 28(1):18-19. Bushbuck are found in a wide rang ...
and nyala
The lowland nyala or simply nyala (''Tragelaphus angasii'') is a spiral-horned antelope native to southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus '' Tragelaphus'', previously placed in genus ''Nyala''. It was first described i ...
.
Medicinal uses
* The roots (regarded as poisonous) are used as a purgative and to treat venereal diseases.
* The bark is mixed with other herbs to make a decoction that is drunk in the morning and evening, quarter of a cup for sores.
* The fruit are regarded as poisonous and reputedly cause hiccups.
Common names
It is also known as the river combretum, and common names in other languages include (Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
), ( Zulu) and (Setswana
Tswana, also known by its native name , and previously spelled Sechuana in English, is a Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa by about 8.2 million people. It belongs to the Bantu language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone ...
).
References
External links
JSTOR Plant Science
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3642252
erythrophyllum
Taxa named by Otto Wilhelm Sonder