''Aloidendron dichotomum'', formerly ''Aloe dichotoma'', the quiver tree or kokerboom, is a tall, branching species of

succulent plant In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meanin ...

, indigenous to

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

, specifically in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and parts of Southern

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

Naming

Known as ''choje'' to the indigenous

San people The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are the members of any of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa, and the oldest surviving cultures of the region. They are thought to have diverged from other humans 100,000 to 200 ...

, the quiver tree gets its English common name from the San people practice of hollowing out the tubular branches of ''Aloidendron dichotomum'' to form

quiver A quiver is a container for holding arrows or Crossbow bolt, bolts. It can be carried on an archer's body, the bow, or the ground, depending on the type of shooting and the archer's personal preference. Quivers were traditionally made of leath ...

s for their

arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

s. The specific epithet ''"dichotomum"'' refers to how the stems repeatedly branch into two ("

dichotomous A dichotomy () is a partition of a set, partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothi ...

" branching) as the plant grows. This species was moved to the genus ''

Aloidendron ''Aloidendron'' is a genus of succulent plants in the subfamily Asphodeloideae. It was split off from the much larger genus ''Aloe'' in 2013. Taxonomy Phylogenetics, Phylogenetic studies indicated that several species that were traditionally ...

'' as ''Aloidendron dichotomum'' in 2013.

Related species

Three separate species, ''A. dichotomum'', '' A. pillansii'' and '' A. ramosissimum'' inhabit the same arid areas of the

Richtersveld The Richtersveld is a desert landscape characterised by rugged kloofs and high mountains, situated in the north-western corner of South Africa’s Northern Cape province. It is full of changing scenery from flat, sandy, coastal plains, to cragg ...

and the

Namib Desert The Namib ( ; ) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and northwest South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba Ri ...

around the South African-Namibian border. The three have been given different ratings on the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

: 'vulnerable' for ''A. dichotomum'', 'critically endangered' for ''A. pillansii'' and 'endangered' for ''A. ramossisimum''. The three species can be distinguished as follows: In ''A. pillansii'', the

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s hang from below the lowest leaves, rather than growing erect. ''A. ramosissimum'' is considerably smaller—rarely reaching more than 2 m in height—and assumes a more shrub-like shape. While there is a gradation between tree-like ''A. dichotomum'' and the shrubby ''A. ramosissimum'', the relatively unique ''A. pillansii'' population is separated by a different flowering time and therefore does not interbreed with the other two species.

Distribution and conservation

One of the few examples of spontaneous forests of ''A. dichotomum'' is the Quiver Tree Forest, about 14 km north of

Keetmanshoop Keetmanshoop is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It is named after , a German Empire, German industrialist and benefactor of the city. Keetmanshoop had a population of 27,862 people in 2023. History Before the colonial era, ...

, in

. Another is located in the Northern Cape of South Africa at Gannabos. Throughout much of its range this species is in decline. Modelling of ''Aloidendron dichotomum'' in

and

has contributed to understanding the needs of protected areas in response to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Modelled range declines in this species due to climate change have recently been confirmed by field surveys.

Cultivation

''Aloidendron dichotomum'' is cultivated in arid areas around the world, for use in landscaping. The slow growth rate and relative rarity of the plant make it a particularly expensive specimen. It is also relatively difficult to keep outside of its natural habitat. In cultivation it requires extremely well-drained coarse mineral sand (preferably with some loam and bone meal to keep it active and growing), full sun, good aeration and extremely little water - primarily in the winter (as it mainly occurs in winter rainfall desert areas). In the (rare) event that it is under-watered, the leaves will curl up and die off at the tips; this is not fatal, but indicates that it is relatively dry. It is unusually prone to aphids and insect infections in between its leaves, and this is exacerbated whenever there is not full sun and constant fresh air movement. Indoor plants require frequent treatment for these pests. Fungicide can be added occasionally, to protect the plant from rot. It can be propagated from seed and (with more difficulty) from cuttings or truncheons. Cuttings need to be thoroughly dried for several weeks in a shaded area before being planted.

In popular culture

Michael Benson's book ''Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece'' (2018) briefly discusses how the kokerboom piqued the interest of film director,

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

. The book claims that several protected kokerboom trees were cut down so they could be used to film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''.

Gallery

Image:Áloe-aljaba (Aloe dichotoma), parque nacional de Namib-Naukluft, Namibia, 2018-08-05, DD 39.jpg, Quiver tree in the

Namib-Naukluft National Park The Namib-Naukluft National Park is a national park in western Namibia, situated between the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the edge of the Great Escarpment. It encompasses part of the Namib Desert (considered the world's oldest desert), the ...

, Namibia. Image:Aloe dichotoma in Phoenix.jpg, In bloom. Image:Köcherbaum Köcherbaumwald 01.JPG, Quiver tree in southern Namibia. Image:Aloe-dichotoma-young-time-comparison.jpg, Growth of a young plant from May to August. Image:Koecherbaum Fish River Canyon anagoria.JPG, Quiver tree at Fish River Canyon, Namibia.
Image:Köcherbaumwald-01.jpg, Quiver Tree Forest near Keetmanshoop, Namibia, in the evening. Image:Kokerboom.jpg,

Sociable Weaver The sociable weaver (''Philetairus socius'') is a species of bird in the weaver family, endemic to Southern Africa. It is the only species in its genus ''Philetairus''. It is found in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, but its range is cente ...

(''Philetairus socius'') nest in a Quiver tree. Northern Cape, South Africa. Image:Kokerboom in flower.jpg, Quiver tree in flower in the Augrabies National Park, South Africa. Image:Kokerboom flowers.jpg, The flowers of the Quiver tree in May. Augrabies National Park, South Africa. Image:Doleritfelsen und Köcherbäume.jpg, Quiver trees and

Dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...

rocks near

. Quiver-Tree-Bark.JPG, Close-up photo of bark on a quiver tree.

References

External links

Desert-tropicals.com profile

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q42729505, from2=Q161263 Asphodeloideae Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of Namibia Trees of South Africa Garden plants of Southern Africa Ornamental trees