Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
The Trees of the Year for 1998 are two exceptional indigenous trees, not very common in gardens, but well worth getting to know and perhaps trying out in the home garden. They are the white pear, common in forests around the southern and eastern coast of the country, and the Kei bottlebrush from the Eastern Cape.
Trees of the Year are selected each year in an effort to familliarise the people of South Africa with the vast variety of indigenous trees which occur here naturally. There are more than one thousand tree species indigenous to Southern Africa - that is more than twice as many as the indigenous tree species in the United States of America.
The ultimate goal of the Trees of the Year campaign is to promote the use of potentially good omamental and useful trees to create a more diverse and interesting living environment for all South Africans. The yellowwood, our national tree, was the first Tree of the Year in 1975. At the rate of one tree a year it would have taken more than 1 000 years to get to know all of the country's trees. So, in 1996, two trees have been chosen - one a more common variety and the other a scarcer tree. These lesser known trees often have good potential as omamentals, for fruit, or medicine, and in some cases are endangered.
1998 TREES OF THE YEAR
WHITE PEAR (Apodytes dimidate subsp, dimidlata) National Tree Number 422.
Afrikaans = Witpeer; Pedi = Kgalgangwe; Swazi = umDzakene; Venda = tshiphopha-madi; Xhosa/Zulu = umDakane.
The white pear is generally a small bushy tree of four to five metres tall, but it can reach heights of 15m when growing in optimum conditions such as the Knysna or Tsitsikamma forests. It is one of South Africa's most common trees, and occurs in a long band from the Cape all along the temperate coastal regions of the south and east coasts. In Kwazulu-Natal the band widens to include most of that province, most of the escarpment and lowveld of Mpumalanga, as well as the bushveld of the Northern and Northwest province. It is also present on the Magaliesburg.
The white pear is an attractive omamental with a whitish ripple bark, often with lovely patterned spots in grey, brown and orange. The leaves are bright green, simple with entire but wavy margins. A distinguishing feature is the pinkish leave stalks and reddish young shoots. It is evergreen and a good shade tree. The flowers appear after the first rains and are small and white. They occur in large and fragrant clusters on the branch ends. The fruit is not edible for humans, but birds nonetheless love it. The tree can withstand considerable cold.
KEI BOTTLEBRUSH (Greyia flanaganni) National Tree Number 444
Afrikaans = Kei baakhout; Xhosa = uSinya.
The Kei bottlebrush is from a tree family endemic to South Africa (in other words it naturally occurs here0. There are only three members in this family, the Kei bottlebrush, the Transvaal bottlebrush and the Drakensburg bottlebrush. All three species are ideally suited for the small city garden - they seldom reach a height of over seven metres. Naturally, they are usually found on rocky hillsides or in ravines. Although the seldom shed all their leaves at once, they produce lovely autumn colours in vibrant yellows and reds when they shed some of their leaves in winter. They Kei bottlebrush is a rare tree that occurs naturally only in the Eastern Cape, so this is an opportunity for the whole country to get to know it. The flowers are bright red and showy and are born at the end of the branches in wispy bundles and not in dense bottlebrush clusters as with the other two species. The leaves are crowded at the ends of branches and are roughly circular. The wood is soft and is not even used for firewood.
If you want to grow this tree in your garden, remember that it cannot withstand severe frost and must be planted in a sheltered spot in cold areas, preferably where it can obtain heat from a rock. The Drakensburg species is often grown in Johannesburg gardens.
It is amazing how many people grow old without being able to recognize on single tree in the veld. The Trees of the Year project creates an opportunity for the people of South Africa to get to know at least two trees per year. So, even if you do not have your own garden, take this opportunity to learn something about our rich tree heritage.
For more information contact Michelle Parker (012) 3388252.