''Philenoptera violacea'' known also as apple leaf or rain tree, , , , , IsiNdebele: Ichithamuzi, Idungamuzi, Iphanda) is a plant

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in the legume

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

(

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

Etymology

The name is derived from the drops of water that fall from the tree and collect in pools on the grounds even in dry weather. This phenomenon is caused by spittle bugs (''Ptyelus grossus'') that infest the tree and suck the sap. After extracting sugar and salts from the sap, the almost pure water is excreted by the bugs to form the "rain".

Taxonomy

The rain tree was collected and depicted as ''Capassa violacea'' by Johann Klotzsch in 1861 on a field trip to

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. In 2000, it was renamed as ''Philenoptera violacea''. Homotypic synonyms include ''Lonchocarpus violaceus'' by Daniel Olivier, 1872 and ''Derris violacea'' by

Hermann Harms Hermann August Theodor Harms (16 July 1870 – 27 November 1942) was a German taxonomist and botanist. Harms was born in Berlin. He worked as a botanist at the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum, Botanical Museum in Berlin. ...

, 1902.

Description

It is a medium sized tree with a sparse

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

and the trunk and main branches are usually crooked. Leaves are compound with 1-2 pairs of lateral leaflets and a single terminal leaflet. The older leaves usually have a rough texture and are blue-green in colour. The bark is pale and flakes in large irregular discs.

Habitat

The rain tree is native to South Tropical & South Africa. It is common in riverine and floodplain grasslands, and in plateau

miombo Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located in central and southern tropical Africa. It includes three woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) chara ...

woodlands. It grows on alluvium and Kalahari sands. It is found at elevations of up to . The rain tree is often grows on termite mounds.

Distribution

It is found in the

DRC The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(Katanga),

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, NE

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 ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

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 ...

(Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces),

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

and Okavango Delta,

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

, SE

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, and

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

Status

It is a protected tree in

References

External links

* Millettieae Protected trees of South Africa Flora of Namibia Flora of Tanzania Flora of Zimbabwe Flora of Zambia Trees of the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{Millettieae-stub